Apple Holds Over a Third of the Smartphone Market

A recent report from online analytics firm comScore shows that, when it comes to the smartphone market, those that have market share are getting more of it, while those who have been losing ground are losing more of it. But the centerpiece of the report has to be that Apple now controls over 33 percent--better than a third--of the entire smartphone market. It's where everyone else is, meanwhile, that will be just as noteworthy.

The comScore survey covers ground from April of 2012 to July of 2012, so changes should be fairly minimal as there's only a month separating right now from the compiled results. At any rate, the clear winner in terms of market share is still Google's Android platform, going from 50.8 percent of the market in April to 52.2 percent in July. Apple, meanwhile, boosted its share from 31.4 percent to 33.4 percent, taking a third of the market.


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Losing ground in the market, meanwhile, was the Symbian platform, down from 1.3 percent in April to 0.8 percent in July, Microsoft's Windows Phone platform going from an even four percent in April to 3.6 percent in July, and the big loser was RIM, going from 11.6 percent in April to 9.5 percent in July.

As for handset makers' share, Samsung is still the leader with 25.6 percent, though that's down a tiny 0.3 percent since April, LG, who lost 0.8 percent to land at 18.4 percent, and Apple, who gained 1.9 percent since April to take 16.3 percent of the market.

The comScore study even took a closer look at users' usage patterns, and discovered that in all categories use was up. Downloaded apps and music saw the biggest gains, while only a few more people discovered their phone's potential for gaming.

Naturally, Android is ahead, if only by reason of its multiplicity of venues. It's worth noting that Apple is getting that third of the market on the strength of, essentially, only one device: the iPhone. Of course, there is a couple different versions of the iPhone out there--the 4S, the 4, the 3GS, and soon, the 5--but it's still all essentially just the iPhone. When the iPhone 5 makes its appearance, chances are these numbers will shift again. In which direction they'll do their shifting, however, only time will tell.

Still, it will certainly bear watching, as the big names jockey for position, and the lesser names try to hold what ground they have in the face of growing resistance from the big names themselves.

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