Despite having lost the crown as world’s largest smartphone manufacturer to Samsung, Apple has managed to keep it for the U.S. market. According to NPD Group, while Samsung’s U.S. shipments grew 140% to take a 24% market share, it was not enough to catch up with Apple’s 29% share. Meanwhile, HTC, LG, Motorola, and RIM all saw their market share drop in the same period.
“Samsung is the only market leader from the feature phone era to transition to market leadership in the smartphone era in the U.S.,” said Ross Rubin, executive director, Connected Intelligence for The NPD Group. “Its broad carrier support and advertising – particularly in the ascendant pre-paid segment – have helped it achieve the highest market share among Android handset providers in the U.S.”
The report attributes much of Samsung’s success to the pre-paid market where Android smartphones dominate with a 79% market share. Samsung held a 38% share of that market.
Apple also dominates NPD Group‘s handset rankings with the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, and iPhone 3GS taking the top three spots. Samsung’s Galaxy S II came in fourth, followed by the HTC EVO 3D.
In terms of operating systems, Android owns 61% of the market with Apple following with a 29% share. In third was RIM with 5% and Microsoft’s Windows Phone came in fourth with 2%.
Read more: NPD Group