Apple's iPhone gained ground in the U.S. on Google's Android platform and Samsung as a hardware maker during September, according to market research firm comScore. While Android and Samsung both posted their own gains during the month, Apple gained more share than either.
Apple, Google, and Samsung were also the only firms to gain ground at all, meaning that they did so at the expense of all other competitors. Research In Motion and Microsoft both lost share in the smartphone platform market, while LG, Google's own Motorola Mobility unit, and HTC all three lost ground as hardware makers.
comScore's reporting is unique in the market share industry because the company measures subscriber share, rather than share of new devices sold. In that Apple's devices generally have a longer lifespan than competing devices, subscriber share doesn't necessarily directly correspond to market share as measured by new sales.
These numbers do matter to some industry watchers and analysts, however, especially those more focused on wireless carriers. Subscriber share also reflects mindshare, at least to a certain extent.
The chart below shows subscriber share by platform for the three months ending June 12, 2012 compared to the three month period ending September 12, 2012. In that period, Google's Android platform grew from 51.6 percent to 52.5 percent of the market, an increase of 0.9 percent.
Apple's iPhone platform grew from 32.4 percent to 34.3 percent, an increase of 1.9 percent. Research In Motion's BlackBerry took it on the chin with a 2.3 percent decrease, while Microsoft decreased 0.2 percent. Nokia Symbian, which was canceled in 2011, also saw its tiny share eroded.
Chart by The Mac Observer from comScore data
Next, we have share as broken down by Vendor. These numbers are for the entire mobile handset market, which includes feature phones. Apple was third place with 17.5 percent of the market, even though it competes solely in the smartphone market. That represents a 2.1 percent increase over the prior period.
Samsung retained its number one spot with 26 percent, an increase of 0.4 percent. LG remained in second place position, but just barely. The company's share declined by 1.1 percent, and comScore noted that Apple has been closing in on LG.
Chart by The Mac Observer from comScore data