iPhone 5 Best Apple Share, Samsung Galaxy S III Best Android - Samsung Rules Prepaid

As the Samsung Galaxy S4 dukes it out with the iPhone 5/4/4S, Samsung is taking over the prepaid dominance space.  Smartphones are a majority of sales for postpaid and prepaid reported NPD Group.  Here are some facts that NPD sent us before CTIA this week.

The Top Best-Selling Models Smartphones in Q1

A full 88% of mobile phone sales were smartphones in Q1 20013.Pre-paid smartphone share is up 23 percentage points, while postpaid is up 10 percentage points  Total smartphone unit sales grew 42 percent year-over-year in Q1 2013, which can primarilybe attributed to a 115 percent increase in prepaid smartphone sales.

In the prepaid world,  one third (33 percent) of repeat smartphone buyers purchased an iPhone, compared to just one quarter (26 percent) of first-time smartphone buyers

Unit share for Prepaid Smartphone Sales (Q1 2013)

  • Samsung: 32%
  • LG: 22%
  • Huawei: 11%
  • HTC: 8%
  • Apple: 8%

Global smartphone shipments are expected to reach 937 million units in 2013, compared to just 889 million units for basic phones and feature phones.

Smarpthone SalesFirst-time smartphone buyers in the U.S. have a tendency to keep their phones longer before
buying a new phone than do repeat smartphone buyers.  As more consumers become repeat smartphone buyers, the average mobile phone buying cycle will speeds up.

 The first time smartphone buyer keeps the smartphone for 1 year or less (14%) 1-2 years (33%), 2-3 years (28%) and over 3 years (27%).

The repeat smartphone buyers keeps the smartphone for1 year or less (25%) 1-2 years (39%), 2-3 years (28%) and over 3 years (8%).