The smartphone battle between Apple and Android rages on, and in the U.S., Apple managed to steal some of Android’s market share during the second quarter. This is particularly interesting because Samsung, the top Android phone manufacturer, had just released the Galaxy S6 a few months before.
Also usually iPhone sales start edging downward slightly as fans anticipate the release of the next iPhone in the fall. As of the end of July, there were 191.4 million smartphone users in the U.S., representing a 77.1% penetration rate of the overall mobile phone market.
Apple the top smartphone maker in the U.S.
Apple has enjoyed immense popularity around the world, but especially on its home turf. Unsurprisingly, the company maintained its position as the top smartphone manufacturer in the U.S. According to the latest data from comScore, Apple held 44.2% of the U.S. smartphone market in July, edging up slightly by 1.1 percentage points from 43.1% in April.
Of course the main reason Apple manages to keep its lead as the top smartphone manufacturer is because the Android operating system is broken apart with more than one manufacturer making Android-based smartphones. Samsung continues to hold a commanding lead over the other Android smartphone makers at 27.3%.
However, that’s a decline of 1.3 percentage points from April. This means that not only did Apple take a bite out of Samsung’s market share, but other manufacturers did as well, which is especially interesting in light of the April release of the Galaxy S6. In third place was LG with 8.7% of the U.S. smartphone market, an increase of 0.3 percentage points from April.
Android leads in smartphone platforms
Android continues to lead in terms of mobile operating systems with 51.4% of the smartphones in the U.S. running on Android. In second place was Apple with 44.2%, while Windows Phone ranked in third place with 2.9%. BlackBerry held 1.3% of the market.
Apple also took a bite out of Android’s share of the market, as Android’s share declined 0.8 percentage points from 52.2% at the end of April, while iOS’ share of the market increased 1.1 percentage points from 43.1% at the end of April. Windows Phone’s and BlackBerry’s shares of the market also declined, with the former’s share falling 0.1 percentage points and the latter’s share falling 0.2 percentage points.
Facebook leads as top two apps
According to comScore, Apple also did well in apps, with the new Apple Music app landing in the top 15 list. Facebook was the most popular smartphone app in July with 73.3% of the app audience using it. In second place was Facebook Messenger with 59.5% of the app audience. YouTube was in third place with 59.3%, and Google Search came in fourth at 52%.
Apple Music was 14th on the list, although Pandora ranked much higher in seventh place.
