Apple overtakes Samsung as top U.S. mobile phone vendor for first time in Q4 2012

A report published on Friday by market research
firm Strategy Analytics said that Apple became
the largest mobile phone vendor in the U.S. over
the last quarter of 2012, surpassing Samsung in
total units shipped for the first time in company
history.

Strategies service saw Apple ship 17.7 million units accounting
for a record 34 percent of the market during the three months
ending in December, enough to squeeze by Samsung's 32.3
percent share on 16.8 million shipments for the same period.
In the fourth quarter of 2011, Apple was estimated to have
shipped 12.8 million iPhones compared to Samsung's 13.5
million units.
Until quarter four, Samsung had been the prevailing U.S.
market leader since 2008. It should be noted that the
numbers account for both smartphones and so-called feature
phones.
"Apple has become the number one mobile phone vendor by
volume in the United States for the first time ever," said
Strategy Analytics Executive Director Neil Mawston. "Apple’s
success has been driven by its popular ecosystem of iPhones
and App Store, generous carrier subsidies, and extensive
marketing around the new iPhone 5 model."
Coming in behind Apple and Samsung was LG, which shipped
4.7 million mobile phones to capture a 9 percent share of the
market, slightly down from 6.9 million units and a 14 percent
share in 2011.
During Apple's quarterly conference call for the first quarter of
2013, it was revealed that iPhone sales stood at 47.8 million
units worldwide, a 29 percent increase from the year ago
quarter. Adding to the boosted sales was strong performance
in the U.S., according to Apple's Chief Financial Officer Peter
Oppenheimer, who noted that a number of government
agencies, such as NASA, NOAA and the TSA, were issuing
iPhones "by the thousands."
Overall, the research firm said customer demand for 4G
smartphones and 3G feature phones spurred U.S. shipments
to 52 million units, a 4 percent increase from last year's 50.2
million units. The strong performance in the holiday quarter
wasn't enough to make up for nine months of market
contraction, however, which resulted in an 11 percent decline
from 186.8 million units in 2011 to 166.9 million units in
2012.