Motorola is now the top 3 phone vendor in America, leaving us with even less choice

While Apple is undergoing its usual new iPhone market share boost, from 39% to 42%, Counterpoint Research made you all clairvoyants for predicting who will grab the LG phones' piece of the phone market pie in the US.

LG is out, which company will replace it?

None. Apple and Samsung will feast on LG's remains

32.45%

OnePlus will get a big bite!

14.22%

Sony might get a boost...

13.22%

Motorola will be the new LG!

18.32%

Other - (Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, Huawei, TCL, Nokia)

14.92%

We forgot the Pixels! Fingers crossed for the Pixel 6!

6.87%

This past quarter has been the first LG-less one, after the company announced the shut down of its phone business in Q2, and, boy, has the "Other" category suffered a blow as a result. LG used to be the third most popular phone brand in the US, after Apple and Samsung, and enjoyed up to double digit market share, or exactly the 10% annual drop in the "Other" category below.

Year-on-year phone market share changes in the US

As you can see, the LG carcass was picked apart mostly by Samsung, which increased its US market share from 30% to 35%, riding on the wings of its popular foldable phones' launch but also on the introduction of great budget 5G phones like the Galaxy A32 in Q3.

It is followed by OnePlus that is now at 3%, and Motorola whose percentage point gain means it has now replaced LG in the top 3 phone maker ranks, at least in the US, be it brand nostalgia, or great Motorola phones.

Don't pop the champagne cork just yet, as all these movers and shakers simply mean that the dearth of smartphone choices in the US has become even more acute.

Apple and Samsung are locked in a two-horse race stateside

A recent NYT article likened the Apple-Samsung duopoly in the US to Coke and Pepsi, and it was only talking about the first half of the year when those two collectively held 71% of the market, not the 77% they have now. Bummer.