NPD and comScore released quarterly research figures over the last few days which suggested that Android was beating out iPhone in the U.S. marketshare. However, some digging into the numbers show that might not be the case. According to the financial results directly from the major carriers, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint (who account for 80% of all U.S. smartphone sales according to Yankee Group), iPhone should have around 50% of the pie, not 29% as NPD suggested, or 30.7% by comScore's calculations. In light of the questioning, comScore commented that among the top three carriers, iPhone growth beat Android's (13% versus 11%) but sales from regional carriers and T-Mobile closed the gap. NPD meanwhile explained that they track sales, which is separate from activations reported from carriers, and can include prepaid and refurbished phones. Plus, NPD figures Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint account for 60% together, not 80%, and "significantly below 90%".
All of that said, there's significant debate as to who's in the lead in the U.S. Internationally, IDC reported that Samsung claimed 29.1% of all smartphones last quarter compared to 24.2% from Apple. Unless IDC's numbers are skewed too, it's hard to imagine the U.S. iPhone market share being twice that of the global rate, but really, it's hard to know who to believe at this point. One thing is for sure though -- Apple is still the most profitable of all of the smartphone manufacturers, and that's a significant measure of success. The latest numbers from Asymco suggest Apple snagged 73% of the smartphone market's total profits, followed by Samsung with 26%. HTC was the only other company to show a profit, at 1%. Everyone else lost money, some by staggering amounts.
Do you see more iPhone or Android devices out in the wild? Is it a overwhelmingly one way or the other? Do you see Android taking up a significant bite of the U.S. market share as NPD and comScore are suggesting, or is it more of an even split with iPhone?
Source: TechCrunch, BusinessInsider, Asymco
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