Samsung Still Driving Android Sales But iPhone 6 Could Topple Brand

The new U.S. smartphone marketshare figures are out from comScore. The data are all pre-iPhone 6. We won’t know until next month whether the new device has changed the “balance of power” in the market.

For the time being, however, things are pretty flat. The iPhone remains the top individual smartphone in the market, with 42 percent. Android remains the top operating system with 52 percent. Windows Phone has gained a fraction of a point.

Samsung remained the most popular maker of Android handsets in the U.S., with 29 percent of the market. Among Android makers only Samsung and LG saw growth. However Samsung has warned that its Q3 profit may fall by 60 percent as the company competes with lower-cost rivals from China and the new, larger-screen iPhone at the higher end of the market.

U.S. smartphone penetration stands at 72 percent according to comScore. Several predictions claim that the number will be 90 percent by 2016.

Below is a comparison of the top 15 apps by reach (not active usage) for August 2014 and a year ago. In the 12 months between the two charts, the Weather Channel fell out of the top 15 and Google+ appeared on the list. Otherwise, it’s basically the same apps with some slight movement up or down.

There’s a lot at stake with the list above because 52 percent of all digital media time, according to comScore, is spent in apps. Thus the concentration of power in the mobile market is much greater (in fewer hands) than in the desktop world.