The iPhone 4/4S/5/5S/5c even with its higher price points than Android competitors including Samsung showed the highest market share in the United States, in 2013. The iPhone is by far the most popular smartphone in the United States.
Data usage went from 5.5 GB per month in 2012's fourth quarter up to 6.6GB per month in the same quarter in 2103 according to NPD Group. In the rest of the world Samsung ruled the smartphone Galaxies.
Smartphone usage went from 52% in the fourth quarter of 2012 to 60% in the same quarter in 2013. iPhone owners were 42% of the market up from 35% in 2012. The Samsung Galaxy of smartphones came in at 26% up from 22% in the same period of 2012. There were less HTC, Motorola and BlackBerry smartphones in the mix in 2013 noted NPD Group.
The most popular use for smartphone is streaming music to the tune of 52% in Q4 2013. with Pandora the most popular music app, followed by iHeart Radio, Spotify, TuneIn Radios and Slacker Radio.
Smartphones are also being used during the shopping process.
In a recent IDC survey of smartphone shoppers, 69% agreed with the statement, "My smartphone is a critical tool that allows me to have a better shopping experience," compared to only 12% who disagree. 70% stated, "I plan to use my smartphone more to help my shopping experience in the coming year" compared to only 11% of respondents who disagree.
Seven in ten said they check prices using their smartphones, and five in 10 said they check reviews from their smartphones. The favorite place to look for reviews and prices is Amazon.
In Q3 while suppliers were shipping for the big holiday season The worldwide smartphone market grew 38.8% year over year in the third quarter of 2013 (3Q13), according to the International Data Corporation Vendors shipped a total of 258.4 million smartphones in 3Q13.
The top maker of smartphones all over the world was Samsung according to third quarter shipments.
- Samsung at 31.4% worldwide maintained its leadership position, shipping more units than the next four vendors combined.
- Apple at 13.1 % showed the success of the iPhones 5S and 5C, and the softening demand of older devices prior to the new models launching.
- Huawei at 4.8% returned to the list of top five vendors after a one-quarter hiatus, narrowly beating out Lenovo and LG.
- Lenovo at 4.7% posted the largest year-over-year increase among the leading vendors, enough to push past LG to claim the number four position worldwide
- LG at 4.6% went down to fifth place, but nevertheless posted strong double-digit year-over-year smartphone growth (72.2%).