Samsung Tops U.S. Mobile Phone MarketSamsung Tops U.S. Mobile Phone Market

Samsung topped the list of U.S. mobile phone manufacturers in the third quarter, while most smartphone makers lost market share to Google Android-based phones, a research firm says.

With the exception of the Apple iPhone, the three other major smartphones saw their share of users fall from the second quarter, ComScore reported Wednesday. The iPhone's share was flat.

The overall smartphone market grew by 15% quarter to quarter, with the number of phone-toting people 13 years old or older growing to 58.7 million, ComScore said. That means that even though an individual smartphone's market share fell, its manufacturer could have actually sold more of the product in the quarter.

"Despite losing share to Google Android, most smartphone platforms continue to gain subscribers as the smartphone market overall continues to grow," ComScore said in a statement.

Therefore, Android's 6.5% increase in the number of people using smartphones running Google's operating system was particularly impressive. Android's share of the smartphone market increased to 21.4% from 14.9%.

Apple's share remained the same at 24.3% quarter to quarter. Research In Motion, which makes the BlackBerry, saw its share fall 2.8% to 37.3% from 40.1%. RIM remained the market leader, followed by Apple and Android, respectively.

The market share of Microsoft's Windows Mobile fell 2.8% to 10%, while fifth-place Palm, acquired this year by Hewlett-Packard, dipped half of a percent to 4.2%.

Samsung remained the leading mobile phone maker in the U.S. in the quarter with a 23.5% share, followed by LG, 21.1%; Motorola, 18.4%; RIM, 9.3%; and Nokia, 7.4%. Samsung and RIM were the only manufacturers to see an increase in the number of people using their phones, but the rise was less than a percentage point. Motorola saw the biggest dip at 2.1%.

In terms of data use, text messaging remained number one with 67% of smartphone users sending text messages. Second was browser use, 35.1%, followed by downloading apps, 33.1%; accessing social networks or blogs, 23.2%; playing games, 23.1%; and listening to music, 15.2%. All six categories saw increases in use quarter to quarter.

SEE ALSO: Windows Phone 7 'Early' To Smartphone Market, Says Ballmer Android Takes Lead In U.S. Smartphone Market