September Smartphone Market: Once Again The Apple-Android Show

It’s getting very boring to write about the US smartphone market, which is a two horse race. Notwithstanding all the investment, splash and marketing surrounding Windows Phones US consumers aren’t buying it/them. And RIM has effectively “gone dark.”

Metrics firm comScore reported that in September Android grew its dominant market share to 52.5 percent. Powered by the iPhone 5, Apple grew more on a percentage basis (1.9 percent) to achieve a market share of 34.3 percent.

The largest handset maker in the US remains Samsung, followed by LG. Apple is a close third with a 17.5 percent share. LG is the maker of the new, really nice Nexus 4 (based on the earlier Optimus G).

Windows Phone 8 is a really beautiful operating system that will likely continue to struggle for adoption in the US and Europe. Its mix of unfamiliarity and complexity will keep many people away. There will probably be modest share gains but we’re unlikely to see anything that approaches a real challenge to the iPhone and Android.

By the same token Nokia’s Windows-Phone powered 920, with its great camera, is unlikely to bring Nokia back as a mainstream brand in the US smartphone market.

Postscript: According to new “shipment” numbers released today by IDC Android achieved a 75 percent share of all Q3 smartphone shipments globally:

Again, this is “shipments” not sales. However in contrast to the comScore data above, the IDC figures show Windows Phones grew its share over a year ago.