Smartphone: Android gains in US, basic phones extinct

WASHINGTON: The Google Android platform grabbed the majority of mobile phones in the US market in early 2014, as consumers all but abandoned non-smartphone handsets, a survey showed Friday. The poll by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners found 53% of new mobile phones activated by US customers were Android devices in the January-March period. Apple’s iOS, the platform used by the iPhone, accounted for 42%, the survey found. Windows and BlackBerry devices each accounted for 1%, while non-smartphones were just 3%, the research firm said. Late last year 20% bought a basic mobile phone. Research firm co-founder Mike Levin said Apple’s iPhone user base grew a little faster than Android, from a smaller base, even though in absolute terms Android – used in Samsung phones – had a larger share. Recent surveys of global phone users show Android phone has a nearly 80% share of smartphone sales.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2014.

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