Latest comScore survey has only Android and iOS showing growth in U.S. during Q4

The latest survey from comScore has been released and in the U.S. during the fourth quarter, only Android and iOS showed any growth among smartphone platforms. Android, still on top, has a 47.3% marketshare which is up from the third quarter's 44.8% score. iOS rose to 29.6% from 27.4% While Android nudged out iOS for the top percentage gainer in the period, third place RIM has the biggest decline of 2.9% bringing the Canadian manufacturer's slice of the U.S. smartphone pie down to 16%. Microsoftwas .9% lower to 4.7% and Symbianwas last with a 1.4% piece of the Stateside market.

In the U.S. smartphone market, thanks to the launch of the Apple iPhone 4S, Apple was the only manufacturer to show growth in the States during the fourth quarter. On top with the same 25.3% share it enjoyed in Q3 is Samsung. LG was second with a 20% share, off from the prior quarter's 20.6%. Motorola was third with a 13.2% slice of the pie (up from 13.7% in Q3), followed by Apple's 12.4% and RIM's 6.7% readings.

Texting remained the feature used by most cell phone users at 74.3%, up from the prior quarter's 71.1%. The biggest gain came from the number of users who downloaded apps which rose from 42.5% of users to 47.6%, good enough for third place in Q4. The smallest increase in mobile usage was for games. In the third quarter, 28.8% of U.S. smartphone users played games on their handset and that rose to 31.4% last quarter.

source: comScore via BGR