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February 05, 2014

Android Down, Apple Up in Q4 2013

It’s once again time to examine the state of the U.S. smartphone market, courtesy of the latest figures from comScore MobiLens and Mobile Matrix. However, this report is a bit more important than its mid-year relatives as it offers insight into the all-important fourth, or holiday quarter of 2013. That said, there aren’t any dramatic upsets here; Android retained its leadership position in the U.S. for another quarter, while Apple is still the top manufacturer.

Still, that doesn’t mean the data holds nothing of interest. For example, Android declined 0.3 percent from September to December, ending up at 51.5 percent, while Apple’s iOS climbed 1.2 percent to 41.8 percent share. This suggests that, even with a number of respected Android devices available, Apple still reigns supreme as that ultimate Christmas gift.

As for the other platforms included in the report — BlackBerry, Windows Phone and Windows Mobile, and Symbian — each saw a decline during the quarter. BlackBerry was hit the worst, dropping 0.4 percent to sit at 3.4 percent, while Microsoft’s mobile operating systems and Symbian fell 0.2 and 0.1 percent, respectively.

In terms of manufacturers, Apple of course held steady at more than 40-percent share, while Samsung managed growth of 1.2 to hit a respectable 26.1 percent. At this point, though, this is pretty much expected and it’s up to the bottom three manufacturers to spice things up a bit.

Despite receiving unanimous praise for the Moto X, Motorola saw a small decline from 6.8 to 6.7 percent during the quarter, leaving it to just edge out LG’s static 6.6-percent share. Finally, HTC saw a relatively dramatic drop from 7.1 to 5.7 percent during the period, taking it from third to fifth place.

Ok, so it was a relatively bland holiday quarter, but 2014 should prove an interesting year. Leneovo’s acquisition of Motorola should mix things up, for example, and a new round of flagship offerings will once again stir the pot.




Edited by Cassandra Tucker


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