Apple Becomes the Largest U.S. Mobile Phone Vendor for the First Time

Apple became the largest U.S. mobile phone vendor during 4Q12 capturing a record 34% market share, according to Strategy Analytics.

Mobile phone shipments grew 4 percent annually from 50.2 million units in Q4 2011 to 52.0 million in the United States in Q4 2012. The growth was driven by robust demand among consumers for 4G smartphones and 3G feature phones. However, despite a solid fourth-quarter performance, the US mobile phone market had previously contracted 16 percent for the first three quarters of 2012 due to economic uncertainty and tighter carrier upgrade policies. As a result, US mobile phone shipments fell 11 percent from 186.8 million units in 2011 to 166.9 million in 2012.

Apple shipped 17.7 million mobile phones in the last quarter for 34% of the U.S. market. Samsung shipped 16.8 mobile phones for 32% of the U.S. market. That's an increase of 5% year-over-year. Samsung had been the number one mobile phone vendor since 2008 in the U.S.


In third place is LG with 4.7 million units shipped for 9% of the U.S.market.

Read More