Apple’s iOS is now the number two smartphone platform in the U.S., according to market research firm comScore. Apple rose to second place during the three-month period ending in May, up 1.4 percentage points to 26.6 percent of total U.S. market share.
Androidwas the only other platform that gained share of smartphone subscribers during the quarter, growing 5.1 percentage points to 38.1 percent of the total pool and retaining its number one spot among mobile operating systems. All other major players besides Android and iOS lost share, with Research in Motion taking the hardest hit with a 4.2 percentage point drop for its BlackBerry OS, while Microsoft and Palm each shed 1.9 and 0.4 percent respectively.
While Android gained more ground than iOS in a smartphone market that grew 11 percent during the last quarter, Apple was the single biggest riser when it came to smartphone hardware growth. Apple rose 1.2 percentage points from 7.5 percent to 8.7 percent for the period ending in May, while Samsung, the market leader, remained flat at 24.8 percent. LG was the only hardware vendor besides Apple in the top five to gain ground, rising 0.2 percent, while both Motorola and RIM slid slightly.
The quarter was a good one for Apple by comScore’s measures, and iOS continues to show positive growth despite Android’s expanding reach. Other recent studies and reports indicate that Apple may be beginning to claw back some of the ground given up to Android, too. But with iOS 5 and the wide release of Google+ on the way soon to shake things up, the smartphone game is becoming a very tricky one to call.
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