Nielsen’s latest smartphone market report shows that in June Android claimed the largest share of the smartphone market, while Apple’s iOS was in second place, and RIM was in third.
However, since Apple manufacturers its own hardware, it is “clearly the top smartphone manufacturer in the United States.”
Android, according to Nielsen, currently holds 39 percent of the smartphone market, up from 36 percent in the last smartphone market report, which came out May 31. While Android appeared to be still gaining market share in today’s report, the company’s lead has begun slow. That’s because in the period from March to May, Android’s market share rocketed from 29 to 36 percent.
iPhones running Apple’s iOS are now in the hands of 28 percent of US consumers, up from 26 percent in Nielsen’s May report. In the March data, Apple’s share was 27 percent.
RIM, maker of Blackberry, has been on a steady decline over the past three Nielsen reports, going from 27 percent in March, to 23 percent in May, to 20 percent in July. The embattled company cut 2,0000 jobs earlier this week. Later this year RIM will be rolling out 7 new BlackBerry devices, a product launch that some analysts say will be the company’s final opportunity to minimize the widening gap. The challenge will be that these upcoming devices will have to compete with Apple’s iPhone 5 and several upcoming Android devices, all set to launch around the same time. Makers of these devices have proven notoriously hard to catch.
Apple reigns in the manufacturing realm, commanding 28 percent of the market share. RIM, who also makes its own BlackBerry devices, accounts for 20 percent of the manufacturing market. HTC is tied with RIM in the number two spot, owning 14 percent of the market with Android devices and 6 percent with Windows Phone 7 devices. Motorola Androids account for 11 percent and Samsung Androids account for 8 percent. Samsung WP7 devices are in the hands of 2 percent of American consumers.
