Apple Overtakes Samsung as Top U.S. Mobile-Phone Vendor

Apple has become the leading U.S. mobile-phone vendor for the first time last quarter, securing a record 34% of market share, and knocking rival Samsung off the top spot.

The Cupertino, Calif., company shipped 17.7 million phones during the fourth quarter, growing 4% annually, according to a new report by research firm Strategy Analytics. For comparison; that number jumped from 12.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, when Apple captured 25% of the market.

"Apple's success has been driven by its popular ecosystem of iPhones and App Store, generous carrier subsidies, and extensive marketing around the new iPhone 5 model," the report said.

Samsung took second place in the last quarter of 2012, shipping 16.8 million phones for 32% market share. The Korean electronics giant had been the top mobile-phone vendor in the U.S. since 2008, but failed to fight Apple off despite what Strategy Analytics called a "good performance."

Taking the third spot, LG shipped 4.7 million phones for 9% share.

Overall, mobile-phone shipments grew 4% annually to 52 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 from 50.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to Strategy Analytics.

"Growth was driven by robust demand among consumers for 4G smartphones and 3G feature phones."

This boost, however, is tempered by the fact that the U.S. mobile-phone market had shrunk during the first three quarters of 2012 due to "economic uncertainty and tighter carrier upgrade policies," the report added, saying that shipments fell 11% from 186.8 million phones in 2011 to 166.9 million in 2012.

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