Apple surpassed Samsung Electronics in the fourth quarter of last year and became for the first time the mobile market leader in the United States, marking a victory in the fight for global market dominance. In the fourth quarter Apple sold 17.7 million mobile phones on the U.S. market, up by 38% compared to the same period in 2011, according to Strategy Analytics, quoted by Bloomberg. The level of sales gives Apple a market share of 34% in the U.S. market for the last three months of last year, ahead of Samsung, which sold 16.8 million phones, equivalent to a market share of 32%.
Total shipments of phones in the U.S. market grew by 4% in the last three months of last year, reaching 52 million units. Apple has a strong position in the U.S., but faces an increased competition from Samsung and other manufacturers of smartphones using Google’s Android operating system. Besides the premium phones, Samsung also manufactures cheaper phones with less sophisticated functions, and is the world market leader for mobile devices, with sales of over 100 million units in the fourth quarter.
Neil Mawston, an analyst at London-based Strategy Analytics, said it in a few words: “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.”
However, broader product portfolios of Samsung and other manufacturers began to erode Apple’s global growth. Last month, Apple reported the slowest profit growth since 2003 and the lowest sales growth in the last 14 quarters. Samsung could regain first place in 2013 in the U.S. market with its new models such as Samsung Galaxy S4.
On the global tablet market, total sales rose 75%, to 52.5 million units in the fourth quarter, according to market analysis company IDC, published Thursday. Samsung’s market share increased from 7.3% to 15% and Apple has dropped from 52% to 44%.
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