Android and LG were the big winners in the U.S. during the third quarter, says comScore's latest data

According to the latest data from comScore, LG was the best performing smartphone manufacturer in the U.S. for the three months ended in September. Among mobile operating systems, it was Android that was the best performer for the third quarter. The data is based on a comparison with second quarter data, which included the three months ended in June.

Among the smartphone producers, Apple continued to have the largest base of users in the United States. For the third quarter, Apple averaged a 43.6% share of U.S. smartphone subscribers. That was down half a percentage point from the second quarter's average share of 44.1%. Keep in mind that the quarter included less than two-weeks of data from the launch of the Apple iPhone 6s and Apple iPhone 6s Plus.

Samsung, though, was unable to take advantage of the weakness in iPhone sales. It too saw a sequential decline of .5 percentage points in its share of stateside smartphone subscribers. Sammy averaged a 27.6% subscriber share during the third quarter, down from the second quarter's 28.1% reading. Fellow South Korean manufacturer LG picked up 1.1 percentage points during the same time period. It's U.S. subscriber share rose from the second quarter's average 8.3%, to an average of 9.4% during the third quarter. Motorola and HTC each lost .1pp in share sequentially.

The same report shows that on average, Android was the platform used by 52.3% of smartphone subscribers in the states during the third quarter. That was a .7 percentage point increase from the second quarter's average of 51.6%. Apple's iOS saw its share drop during the same period, from 44.1% to 43.6% for a sequential decline of .5pp. Microsoft (2.9%), BlackBerry (1.2%) and Symbian (.1%) were each flat from the second to third quarter.

As usual, comScore computed which apps reached the most potential users. For the third quarter, Facebook was on top as the messaging app was available to 76.2% of U.S. smartphone subscribers. Far behind in second was Google's YouTube at 61%. Facebook Messenger was third (60.9%) followed by Google Play (52.2%) and Google Search (51.2%). Other notable apps include Google Maps (49.8%), Instagram (38.6%) and Twitter (25.2%).


source: comScore via AppleInsider