Samsung Expands US Handset Lead; Android Smartphone Share Up

Samsung strengthened its lead as the top handset maker in the U.S. during the three months ended in November, while Google Android platform expanded its dominance of the U.S. smartphone market, according to industry tracker comScore.

ComScore's latest survey, which included more than 30,000 mobile subscribers, comes amid tight competition in the sector. In the handset market, No. 1 Samsung and No. 4 Apple saw their market shares increase as rivals such as LG Electronics, Motorola Mobility Holdings and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion saw declines during the three-month period. Samsung's share grew by 0.3 percentage point to 25.6% while Apple's share was up 1.4 percentage point at 11.2%. In the smartphone segment, No. 1 Google and No. 2 Apple gained market share at the expense of rivals including former market leader Research-in-Motion and Motorola--which is being acquired by Google. Google's market share increased 3.1 percentage points to 46.9%, while Apple increased by 1.4 percentage points to 28.7%. Research-in-Motion saw the biggest decline, down 3.1 percentage points to 16.6%.