According to comScore’s 2015 smartphone market analysis, Apple’s share moved up to 44.2% from 43.1% between April and July. The figure might seem modest, but at this quarterly rate, annualized, the gain is likely to be much greater. Samsung’s share slipped from 28.6% to 27.3% over the same period. Additionally, Samsung has to fight with smaller rivals LG, Motorola and HTC.
Another impressive gain is the improvement in Apple’s iOS operating system, compared to Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Android. iOS is only used in Apple products, while Android is used by almost all the competing smartphone companies. iOS market share was 44.2%, up 1.1 percentage points, and Android’s share dropped 0.8% points to 51.4%
comScore also commented on the size of the market:
191.4 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (77.1 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in July. Apple ranked as the top OEM with 44.2 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers (up 1.1 percentage points from April). Samsung ranked second with 27.3 percent market share, followed by LG with 8.7 percent (up 0.3 percentage points), Motorola with 4.9 percent and HTC with 3.5 percent.
The Apple gains have to be a product of the popularity of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. With a new generation less than a month away from launch, and Samsung in the market with relatively new products, the picture will change by the end of the year. However, it is too early to tell which direction.
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