Apple and Google both showed gains in the U.S. mobile phone market in the three months ending n May of 2011, according to new data released by market research firm comScore. The company said that Apple lengthened its lead over Research In Motion in total handsets, while Apple and Google both gained share in the smartphone-specific market, with Apple’s iOS passing RIM’s BlackBerry to be the #2 smartphone platform.
While Apple only sells one mobile phone, the iPhone, comScore’s data shows the company to be the #4 mobile handset maker in the U.S. Apple sold 8.7% of all mobile handsets, a 1.2% gain over the three months ending in February, while #5 RIM showed a -0.5% decline.
In fact, only Apple and #2 LG (+0.2%) showed gains in the company’s survey, with #1 Samsung holding even and #3 Motorola dropping by 1%.
The figure below shows the Top Five (plus “Others”) handset makers for the U.S.
Chart by The Mac Observer from comScore data
Looking at platforms, Google increased its lead as the #1 smartphone platform, claiming 38.1% of the market in the three months ending in May. That’s a gain of 5.1% from February. Apple showed a smaller gain of 1.4% to claim the #2 spot for the first time with 26.6% of the market.
The other three platforms (not including “Others”) all showed declines, however, including RIM (-4.2%), Microsoft (-1.9%), and Palm (-0.4%).
The figure below shows the overall breakdown of smartphone platforms.
Chart by The Mac Observer from comScore data
It should be noted that comScore’s data comes from a survey of some 30,000 U.S. consumers, as opposed to actual sales data. Still, the company’s results track well with similar data from other research firms that use their own sales tracking methodology to determine market share.