Android Beats iOS in U.S. Smartphone Sales

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According to the latest U.S. smartphone market statistics from Kantar Worldpanel, Android has pulled ahead of iOS by a sizable margin. Strong sales of Samsung devices have contributed significantly to Android’s gains.

BGR’s Tero Kuittinen reported, “Kantar is out with its smartphone market share numbers for three months ending in February, and Android devices continue pulling away from iPhone in the United States. A year ago, iOS led Android by 47%-45% in the smartphone operating system market share competition. By February 2013, Android had moved to a 51%-43% lead.”

MobileBurn’s Andrew Kameka added, “Samsung deserves most of the credit for Android’s large gains in market share. The Korean manufacturer led the pack thanks to the appeal of its Galaxy Android phones and price drops on devices towards the end of 2012, according to Kantar analyst Mary-Ann Parlato. More than a third of sales came from customers using competitor’s phones.”

InformationWeek’s Eric Zeman noted, “In the U.S., Windows Phone grew from 2.7% of the market in February 2012 to 4.1% of the market in February 2013. That’s a small tick of 1.4%, but enough to put it in third place — ahead of BlackBerry. According to Kantar, BlackBerry’s market share in the U.S. fell from 3.6% in February 2012 to 0.7% in February 2013. It is important to point out, however, that this does not include sales of the BlackBerry Z10, which went on sale in the U.S. late last month.”

FierceMobile Content’s Jason Ankeny wrote, “Kantar also notes that Sprint enjoyed a significant increase in smartphone sales between December and February, translating to an additional boost for the Android platform. Sprint accounted for 15 percent of all smartphones sold in the U.S. during the three-month period, up from 12.9 percent a year ago; Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) remains in the overall smartphone sales lead at 35 percent, down from 36.1 percent, trailed by AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) at 26.7 percent, dropping from 30.4 percent in the year-earlier period. T-Mobile USA increased from 9.3 percent to 9.8 percent, and smaller, regional operators accounted from the remaining 13.5 percent, up from 11.3 percent a year ago.”