18.5% of U.S. Mobile Phone Subscribers Now Using iPhones

comScore today released the results of its monthly rolling survey of U.S. mobile phone users for the September-November period, finding that 18.5% of U.S. mobile phone subscribers are now using an iPhone, up 1.4 percentage points from the June-August period. Samsung continues to lead the market at 26.9% on 1.2 percentage point growth, while the remainder of the top five vendors all lost share.

comscore nov12 manufacturers
Apple overtook LG for the second spot in last month's survey, and solidified its lead in the latest data on continued growth paired with a small decline by LG.

In looking only at smartphones, which now account for 53% of the U.S. mobile market, Android has continued to expand its lead and now holds 53.7% of the market. The iPhone 5 launch has, however, allowed Apple to continue its growth and the company now holds 35% of the smartphone market as the fall of RIM and Microsoft have increasingly turned the smartphone market into a two-horse race.

comscore nov12 platforms
Notably, comScore's data tracks installed user base rather than new handset sales, making it more reflective of real-world usage but slower to respond to shifting market trends than some other studies.

Related Forum: iPhone

Top Rated Comments

Peace Avatar
148 months ago
Didn't Steve Jobs say he wanted to get 2-3 % marketshare ? Seems to me he would be pretty happy.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
theOtherGeoff Avatar
148 months ago
Game of Duopoly, anyone?

Apple wants a triopoly. The issue isn't the handset, it's the ecosystem. It was the windows ecosystem, not windows that took down apple in the 90s (and just a little bit of anti-competitive practices).

'Divide and conquer' is what Apple wants, as well as extending the ecosystem beyond a handset to computer, tablet and TV is. Google/Android is less an issue in the fragmentation of handsets specs OEM and carrier add-ons. However Samsung is capable of taking on Apple directly, and Google with Motorola could if actually make a plan.

Apple wants an Amazon or a Windows/Nokia/Surface/xBox solution that dilutes the Samsung and Google threat. Apple is quite happy competing in a world where it gets the high spend 25% of the market, because no one can compete with it's efficiencies. If Samsung was unchallenged, it could attack the high end by subsidizing it with the (slightly less) low end, and have the mass to shift the power center of the 'mobile ecosystem' to itself. But with a bevy of competitors at the low end of a triopoly or greater space, no one ecosystem can establish that broad base lever point to lock in the long term.

In other words... sucky cheap phones/pads/computers drive customers to change, not upgrade to less sucky. Apple wants to be that change.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
charlieegan3 Avatar
148 months ago
I just wish this wasn't so much of a two horse race.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
caligomez Avatar
148 months ago
Amazing how Google and Samsung have kept (and gained) their share. Truly a force to be reckoned with..
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
samcraig Avatar
148 months ago
The more the better for consumers, it's competition that forces companies to better themselves.

Agreed. An example is the iPad Mini. Would probably not exist if it weren't for competitors in the marketplace - even Eddie Cue's email illustrates that.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ziggyonice Avatar
148 months ago
That's a lot lower than I thought... Most anyone I see walking around on their phone has an iPhone.

That's because iPhones are consistent and recognizable, while Android phones are all just clumped together and no one knows the difference at first glance.

It's part of what makes these "ANDROID has more marketshare than iPhone!!!1!" articles all the more misleading.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iPad And Calculator App Feature 1

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
macbook pro purple february

Best Buy Introduces Record Low Prices on Apple's M3 MacBook Pro for Members

Thursday April 25, 2024 7:41 am PDT by
Best Buy is discounting a collection of M3 MacBook Pro computers today, this time focusing on the 14-inch version of the laptop. Every deal in this sale requires you to have a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership, although non-members can still get solid second-best prices on these MacBook Pro models. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a...