According to NPD, Apple leapfrogged both HTC and Motorola to move into the No. 3 spot in the United States, with 14 percent of the overall phone market, boosted by the arrival of the iPhone on Verizon. Samsung still tops the U.S. market with 23 percent, followed by LG at 18 percent.
The iPhone 4 was the top individual phone model, followed by the iPhone 3GS, Motorola Droid X, HTC EVO 4G, and HTC Droid Incredible.
Android’s share of the smartphone market dipped in the quarter, NPD said, to 50 percent in the first quarter from 53 percent in last year’s fourth quarter. Apple’s iOS rose nine percentage points, accounting for 28 percent of smartphone units sold, while BlackBerry lost five points of market share, falling to 14 percent.
A report by research firm Nielsen earlier this week found thirty-one percent of consumers surveyed plan to buy an Android-based smartphone in the next year, while 30 percent were going with Apple’s iPhone instead.
Overall, smartphones accounted for more than half of all phones sold in the U.S. for the first time, with consumers opting for a smartphone 54 percent of the time.
Worldwide smartphone sales will reach 468 million units in 2011, a 57.7 percent increase from 2010, according to Gartner. According to IDC, the global mobile phone market grew 20 percent in the first quarter of this year, year-over-year. U.S. smartphone sales are expected to grow from 67 million units in 2010 to 95 million units in 2011.
