Android Smartphone Sales Slip in U.S. Market, Still Ahead of iOS

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

Android's lead over iOS is diminishing in the U.S.

No matter where you pull your data from, it all points to Google's Android platform being the most popular mobile operating system on the planet, and usually by a wide margin. However, things get a little more interesting when you zone in on specific territories, including the United States where iOS appears to be quickly gaining ground on Android. The gap between the two is now less than 8 percent on smartphone devices, according to data derived from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech USA.
In the three-month period ending in July, Android retained its lead in the U.S. smartphone market with a majority 51.1 share, though that's down 7.6 percent compared to the previous three-month period. Meanwhile, iOS jumped 7.8 percent to claim a 43.4 percent share of the U.S. smartphone market, effectively slashing the gap in half in a matter of months.
Not a lot of movement was seen elsewhere. Microsoft's Windows Phone platform added half a percentage point to take third place with a 3.5 percent share, while BlackBerry dropped 0.7 percent for a 1.2 percent share of the market.
It's also interesting to note the breakdown by carrier. On Verizon, Android and iOS are about evenly split at 49 percent and 48.5 percent, respectively, whereas iOS is more popular on AT&T at 63.5 percent versus 29.3 percent for Android. In both cases, iOS gained significant ground over the previous three-month period.

Kantar Worldpanel ComTech USA

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