Apple Overtakes LG to Become No. 2 Mobile Phone Maker in U.S.

Apple captured the number two slot in all U.S. mobile phone makers, both smartphone and non-smartphone, for the first time, according to a new report by research firm comScore.

Samsung maintained their lead with 26.3% in overall mobile phone userbase, with Apple coming in second at 17.8% and LG .2 points behind in the number three slot with 17.6%. Apple gained 1.5% in the three month period starting in August 2012 and ending in October 2012, which includes the first full month of iPhone 5 availability. LG, Motorola and HTC all saw their share shrink by .8, .2 and .4% respectively. Back in April, Apple leapfrogged Motorola to become the No. 3 mobile phone maker.

Screen Shot 2012 11 30 at 5
comScore's data tracks installed base rather than sales figures, so it reflects well on real-world usage rather than immediate market trends. Recently, Kantar Worldpanel released data based on sales figures that Apple had overtaken Android in marketshare with the help of iPhone 5 sales.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island

iPhone 18 Pro Leak Adds New Evidence for Under-Display Face ID

Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker. According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds Second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found. Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Monday December 1, 2025 2:40 am PST by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
Johny Srouji

Apple's Chipmaking Chief Johny Srouji Responds to Report About Him Potentially Leaving

Monday December 8, 2025 9:23 am PST by
Apple's chipmaking chief Johny Srouji has reportedly indicated that he plans to continue working for the company for the foreseeable future. "I love my team, and I love my job at Apple, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon," said Srouji, in a memo obtained by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Here is Srouji's full memo, as shared by Bloomberg:I know you've been reading all kind of rumors and...
Johny Srouji

Apple Chip Chief Johny Srouji Could Be Next to Go as Exodus Continues

Sunday December 7, 2025 10:41 am PST by
Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji could be the next leading executive to leave the company amid an alarming exodus of leading employees, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Srouji apparently recently told CEO Tim Cook that he is "seriously considering leaving" in the near future. He intends to join another company if he departs. Srouji leads Apple's chip design ...
Intel Inside iPhone Feature

Apple's Return to Intel Rumored to Extend to iPhone

Friday December 5, 2025 10:08 am PST by
Intel is expected to begin supplying some Mac and iPad chips in a few years, and the latest rumor claims the partnership might extend to the iPhone. In a research note with investment firm GF Securities this week, obtained by MacRumors, analyst Jeff Pu said he and his colleagues "now expect" Intel to reach a supply deal with Apple for at least some non-pro iPhone chips starting in 2028....
google pixel 10

Switching Between iPhone and Android Will Get Easier With New Apple and Google Collaboration

Monday December 8, 2025 11:10 am PST by
Apple and Google are teaming up to make it easier for users to switch between iPhone and Android smartphones, according to 9to5Google. There is a new Android Canary build available today that simplifies data transfer between two smartphones, and Apple is going to implement the functionality in an upcoming iOS 26 beta. Apple already has a Move to iOS app for transferring data from an Android...
Apple Fitness Plus expansion hero

Apple Fitness+ Coming to 28 New Regions With Digital Voice Dubbing

Monday December 8, 2025 6:19 am PST by
Apple today announced that Fitness+ is expanding to 28 new markets on December 15 in the service's largest international rollout since launch, accompanied by new language dubbing and a K-Pop music genre. Apple Fitness+ will become available in Chile, Hong Kong, India, the Netherlands, Singapore, Taiwan, and additional regions on December 15, with Japan scheduled to follow early next year....
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...

Top Rated Comments

goobot Avatar
170 months ago
Just the fact that apple only sells 3 phones (2 old models) at a time while the other competition will sell dozens of new just shows how well apple is doing in the phone market.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pgiguere1 Avatar
170 months ago
Have you ever actually used an HTC, or even any Android phone at all?

The HTC One X runs circles around the iPhone 5 and is the only phone on the market that actually trumps the iPhone on aesthetics. I'm not saying that from a fanboy perspective as the iPhone 4/5 are in my opinion at the number 3 spot (HTC One S in white looks better as well).

That said, your comment is pathetic.
While I agree that the HTC One line is underrated compared to Samsung's Galaxy line, you're making a couple of bold claims here.

I'm not sure what you mean by "runs circle around the iPhone 5".

The One X has a worse CPU and GPU, similar screen but with worse colour gamut and no in-cell touch for the "painted on top of glass" illusion. It is bulkier, has worse battery life, worse camera and no 64GB option while also having tasteless Beats by Dr Dre branding, HTC Sense skin that nobody likes, and is late on Android updates (it just got 4.1 while 4.2 has been out for a little while).

You could say that you like its design better or that you like its bigger screen better, but both of those are more subjective, so I don't know why you talk like it's an unquestionable fact that the One X is better. If you want to compare measurable hardware, the iPhone 5 is clearly a higher-end phone than a One X, which is also normal given that it's a newer phone. The rest (OS choice, screen size, aesthetics) is just like, your opinion, man.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jayducharme Avatar
170 months ago
Remember when the first iPhone was released, Jobs said he'd be happy with capturing just 1% of the smartphone market. And at that time, many analysts were predicting that it would be difficult for Apple to do even that. "It doesn't have a physical keyboard!"
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wikus Avatar
170 months ago
I hope Apple can sink the "axis of evil"...Samsung/Google phones. :cool:

Why? How is that going to help you buy another iPhone?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
akbarali.ch Avatar
170 months ago
with just one model! that's impressive.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dave.UK Avatar
170 months ago
Apple is just an amazing company. The fact that Android fans visit this site just as much as Apple fans supports that notion.

I've never visited a single Android forum - and before the iPhone 5 came out I owned a Razr Maxx.

Do they even have forums? Do Apple fans EVER visit them? lol

I thought this was an Apple forum? Not an iPhone/ios forum.

So by your logic people that own -

iPads
iPods
Notebooks
Mac Computers

shouldn't visit MacRumors UNLESS they own an iPhone as well??

You do realise that its possible to own an iPad, iPod, Notebook and/or Mac Computer and an Android device?

Some people are so blinkered its worrying.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)