American consumers continue to buck the global trend, passing over popular Chinese brands in favor of handsets made by Apple and Motorola. The latest report from ComScore found that of the estimated 156 million Americans who own a smartphone, 41.8% own an iPhone. The launch of the iPhone 5S and 5C helped Apple increase its market share during Q4, but only by a bit. Apple’s share increased 1.2 percentage points at the expense of the No. 5 vendor HTC.
Apple and Samsung have the marketing budgets to help carriers and retailers promote their handsets heavily, and this is helping the two giants increase market share at the expense of smaller competitors. The replacement market is key to handset retailers, as two out of three Americans now owns a smartphone and analysts expect limited growth in the U.S. market.
Samsung had a 26.1% U.S. market share a the end of 2013, followed by Motorola at 6.7%, LG at 6.6% and HTC at 5.7%. The ComScore study measures the installed base of smartphones in the United States, not new sales. As an Android pioneer, Motorola gained ground in the United States with its Droid handsets and has recently launched a new Droid line with Verizon Wireless. In addition, Motorola sells the only U.S.-made smartphone, the Moto X. Motorola Mobility is currently owned by Google, but Google announced last week that it will sell Motorola’s device business to Lenovo. The deal will make Lenovo the world’s third-largest smartphone maker.
HTC is losing ground in the United States and the rest of the world, despite a smartphone lineup that has consistently earned positive reviews. Shipment delays hurt sales of the HTC One during 2013, as did competition from Samsung and from Chinese competitors.
Worldwide, two of the top five smartphone vendors are Chinese manufacturers (Lenovo and Huawei). The U.S. numbers stand in contrast to reports on the global market, but most global reports track new sales as opposed to installed base. Samsung is the only company with a U.S. market share that tracks its global share – 28.8% worldwide (per IDC) versus 26.1% in the United States. Apple has just 17.6% of the global market, and Chinese vendors Lenovo and Huawei join South Korea’s LG in rounding out the global top five as follows: Huawei (5.8%), Lenovo (4.9%) and LG (4.6%). Like its giant South Korean rival, LG is on both top five lists. But unlike Samsung, LG scores higher in the United States than it does globally.
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