Skip to main content

Survey: Android phones increasing share in US, Samsung top phone maker

Google’s mobile OS, Android, is continuing to increase its share of the market among smartphone users in the US.

The latest results of a survey released by digital research firm comScore show that for the three-month period ending in September the OS was being used by almost half (44.8 percent) of all Americans that own a smartphone, up from 40.2 percent for the period ending in June.

Recommended Videos

In contrast, the iPhone’s iOS platform was being used by 27.4 percent of Americans, up a fraction from June’s 26.6 percent figure.

Research In Motion, which has suffered a series of setbacks recently, most notably a three-day outage of its BlackBerry service last month, saw a drop in users from June to September of 4.6 percent (from 23.5 percent to 18.9 percent).

Microsoft also saw a drop in the number using its mobile Windows platform, from 5.8 percent in June to 5.6 percent in September.

Among smartphone manufacturers, Samsung still leads the field in the US, with 25.3 percent of Americans now using a Samsung-made device. This figure is the same as in June. Second behind Samsung is LG, with 20.6 percent of the market (down from June’s 21.3 percent). Only Apple saw an increase in market share, albeit a modest one (up 1.3 percent). The survey found that its iPhone is used by 10.2 percent of Americans, hitting double figures for the first time.

Google will be pleased to see its Android OS continuing to play strongly, while Apple can take some comfort with its iOS platform holding second place and pushing well ahead of RIM’s platform. Samsung should also be happy that it’s continuing to perform well in an increasingly competitive market.

The results of comScore’s next survey, covering the October to December quarter, will be interesting to say the least as it should give a strong indication as to the extent of the damage caused by the three-day BlackBerry outage last month, and also reflect Apple’s release of the iPhone 4S.

The comScore survey involved more than 30,000 mobile subscribers in the US.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
The Galaxy S25 doesn’t look like the success Samsung will have wanted
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Samsung leads Apple in smartphone shipment market share, according to data from Counterpoint Research, and while this may appear good news for the brand, a deeper examination into two very different strategies indicates Samsung may not be happy with the situation at all. For the first three months of 2025, Samsung controlled 20% of the global smartphone market by device shipments, followed by Apple with 19%. This is “sell in” data, meaning devices purchased from the manufacturer by distributors. It is a considerable change over the data from the last three months of 2024, where Apple led with 23% of the market followed by Samsung with 16%.

This is crucial to understanding why Samsung may be looking at the latest figures, which on the outside appear positive, with concern. At the end of 2024 Apple would have been riding high on the release of the iPhone 16 series, while Samsung would have been far removed from the Galaxy S24 series and the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6’s release. It makes sense for Apple to command a higher market share right after the release of its flagship devices for the year. 

Read more
Latest iPhone Fold rumor tells us a little more about the camera
Semi-open state of a foldable iPhone concept

Foldable phones have been around for over five years now and there are several options available. It's not just Samsung and Google in the folding space, but Motorola, Huawei, Oppo, OnePlus and Honor too. There is one company notably missing however, and that's Apple. 

The company has long been rumoured to be working on a folding iPhone, and there's talk of a larger folding device too. Both are speculated to enter mass production in late 2026 with a launch then happening towards the end of next year or early 2027. 

Read more
Phones and laptops aren’t getting pricey, thanks to tariff relief
A MacBook and iPhone in shadow on a surface.

If you have lately been concerned about an imminent — and meteoric – rise in the price of electronics such as iPhones, laptops, and PC components, you can breathe a sigh of relief. The US government has granted an exemption to a wide range of electronics items from the heavy tariffs it has imposed on China over the past few weeks.

Why was it a dire situation?

Read more