Report: U.S. Smartphone Penetration Now At 75 Percent

Nearly 75 percent (74.9 percent) of mobile subscribers in the U.S. now own smartphones. In December 2013, U.S. smartphone penetration was 65.2 percent. By December 2015, it will be above 80 percent, perhaps closing in on 85 percent.

The 75 percent figure comes from the latest comScore U.S. smartphone market share report, out today. Overall, the market share data are mostly unchanged from previous months. Apple and Google occupy generally the same relative positions as in past surveys.

However, seemingly flying in the face of Apple’s massive holiday quarterly sales, comScore shows a one percent share loss by Apple against Android (driven by Samsung and LG gains). This contrasts with Kantar Worldpanel ComTech data (second image below) showing the iPhone growing in markets globally in December, mostly at Android’s expense.

The Top 15 mobile app rankings are also largely unchanged sequentially. Facebook remains the dominant app, with a cluster of Google properties immediately behind. Year over year there’s been more movement up and down the top 15 list.

Accordingly, YouTube is now the second-highest ranking Google-owned app — slightly above search. Google + and Amazon entered the list in the past year and Yahoo Weather is gone.

About The Author

Greg Sterling

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog, Screenwerk, about connecting the dots between digital media and real-world consumer behavior. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.