Smartphone sales surpass sales of other mobile phones
Smartphones are once again outselling other mobile phones, according to the Nielsen research group.
From March to May, 55% of new mobile phones purchased were smartphones, raising the devices’ market share in the U.S. to 38%, Nielsen said in a blog post on the growing popularity of smartphones.
Over the same three-month period a year earlier, just 34% of those who bought a new mobile phone chose a smartphone over less-capable standard cellphones, which are usually limited to talking, texting and snapping a photo, the research firm noted.
Google’s Android operating system is maintaining its reign as the most popular smartphone platform, with 38% of smartphone subscribers going Google, Nielsen said.
“However, while Android also leads among those who recently purchased a new smartphone, it is the Apple iPhone that has shown the most growth in recent months,” the group said.
A graph provided by Nielsen showed the iPhone’s market share from March to May sitting at about 27%, 11 percentage points shy of Android phones in the U.S.
In April, NPD Group reported that smartphones outsold cellphones for the first time over a three-month period and International Data Corp. predicted in June that the smartphone market as a whole could grow about 55% this year.
