Whenever mobile market share or usage share numbers are reported, it’s important to clarify the scope of the data. Worldwide, Apple’s iOS has fallen to a distant second place behind Samsung, which primarily sells devices based on Google’s free Android operating system. But the Cupertino company performs much better in its home territory, even leading many key areas. Now research group NPD reports that Apple not only maintained its lead in U.S. smartphone ownership, it widened it over the past year.
Data and chart via NPD
According to NPD’s Connected Home Report, Apple increased its lead in U.S. smartphone ownership in the past year, with iOS growing from 35 percent of the market in the fourth quarter of 2012 to 42 percent of the market in the same quarter of 2013. Rival Samsung also grew, but at a smaller rate, from 22 to 26 percent during the same period. All other manufacturers except for LG saw their shares fall.
Unlike many reports which provide data only on new sales, the NPD Connected Home Report attempts to measure the actual installed user base. To gather the data, NPD conducts surveys of about 5,000 U.S. consumers over the age of 18, and asks them about the devices and services they currently use.
NPD’s results correlate with those from a recent comScore report, which pegged Apple’s U.S. install base at 41.2 percent, compared to 26.0 percent for Samsung.
