Two Companies Monopolize Smartphone Apps in America

Smartphones are in the hands of just about every American who wants one. The most important piece of software, from a consumer's perspective, is likely to be a web browser. Most of these devices have a small number of software apps installed, and few are actually used on a regular basis.

comScore released data on key trends in the U.S. smartphone industry for January 2016. Looking back on 2015, not much has changed. Apple ranked as the top smartphone manufacturer with 43.6 percent OEM market share, while Google Android led as the number one smartphone platform with 52.8 percent platform market share.

Facebook ranked as the top individual smartphone software application. Once again, Google and Facebook dominate the list of top smartphone apps in America.

Smartphone OEM Market Share

198.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (79.1 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in January.

Apple ranked as the top OEM with 43.6 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers (up 0.3 percentage points from October).

Samsung ranked second with 28.5 percent market share (up 0.6 percentage points), followed by LG with 9.6 percent, Motorola with 5 percent and HTC with 3.2 percent.

Smartphone Platform Market Share

Android ranked as the top smartphone platform in January with 52.8 percent market share, followed by Apple with 43.6 percent (up 0.3 percentage points from October), Microsoft with 2.7 percent and BlackBerry with 0.8 percent.

Top Smartphone Software Applications

Facebook ranked as the top smartphone app, reaching 78.4 percent of the app audience, followed by Facebook Messenger (64.1 percent), YouTube (61.1 percent) and Google Play (51 percent).