Android loses ground, Apple's iPhone takes 33% of US smartphone market
The latest data from Strategy Analytics, released on Monday, reveals that Android's share of smartphones shipped in the second quarter of 2012 was 56.3 percent. Though Google's platform still has a majority of the market, its share was down from the 60.6 percent of smartphone shipments Android accounted for in the second quarter of 2011.
Android's losses proved to be Apple's gain, as U.S. sales of the iPhone increased from 5.9 million in the second quarter of 2011 to 7.9 million in the same period in 2012. The research firm found that the iPhone accounted for 33.2 percent of all smartphones shipped in America in the second quarter of 2012.
Strategy Analytics said the numbers show that Android's market share in the U.S. is peaking while Apple's iPhone continues to gain ground. Apple is expected to see it share of the market grow even more in the coming months, as the company is expected to launch a next-generation handset this fall.
Also losing share in the second quarter was Research in Motion's BlackBerry OS, which slid from a 10.5 percent share in 2011 to 6.5 percent in the second quarter of 2012.
In all, total domestic smartphone shipments were down 5.4 percent year over year over the three-month quarter. That's a major change from the 70.1 percent year-over-year growth the U.S. smartphone business saw in 2011.
Strategy Analytics said the primary reason for slowdown in the smartphone market is a volatile economy, as well as maturing penetration of smartphones among mobile subscribers. In addition, the firm said major operators are tightening their upgrade policies to improve profits.
Apple announced last week that it sold a total of 26 million iPhones in the June quarter, which was a 28 percent increase from the previous year. With 7.9 million of those sold in the U.S., a total of 3.7 million iPhones were sold through carrier AT&T, 2.7 million were activated at Verizon, while 1.5 million customers chose Sprint.
62 Comments
"APPLE. IS. DOOMED."
"But Android is out
shippingselling Apple!"No, seriously, where are all those Android phones going?
Wow, the difference between the US and the rest of the world is very stark.
I suspect it largely comes down to a combination of (1) price related issues and (2) completeness of Apple's ecosystem in the US.
Regarding the first, the issue is that in the US, the perceived difference in price between Android phones and iPhones isn't as large, since the carriers absorb a big chunk of the difference. Internationally, end-users feel the full difference in phone prices.
Regarding the second, Apple's whole "ecosystem" is just a lot better developed in the US (completeness of the iTunes and App stores, and just as importantly, the pervasiveness of the retail stores).
If Apple can get out lower cost iPhone models internationally and build up the ecosystem, then perhaps Apple can replicate their success in the US globally.
Just about every Android-using individual I know hate their phones. Pick whatever multitude of reasons there are from bad battery life, build-quality, support, OS issues, etc... It's all covered.
It was usually their first smartphone experience and was sold to them usually by some pimple-faced Android fanboy at the wireless store. The first thought after a couple months - and seeing me actually using my iP4 instead of babysitting a horrible Android phone - they eventually say that their next phone will be an iPhone. Simply because it works great, looks great, and it's easy to use. Everything that Android is not.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Apple/Scamsung trial going on today puts Samsung (and other iPhone copyists) on notice.
I'm more interested in why the YoY adoption of smartphone are down about 6%.
"APPLE. IS. DOOMED."
"But Android is out
shippingselling Apple!"No, seriously, where are all those Android phones going?
The rest of the world.