Samsung has retained its top-spot in the US handset market with 25.3 percent market share, according to comScore. Their survey also found that Google Android continued to gain ground in the smartphone market reaching 44.8 percent market share.

For the three-month average period ending in September, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.3 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, followed by LG with 20.6 percent share and Motorola with 13.8 percent share.

Apple strengthened its position at #4 with 10.2 percent share of mobile subscribers (up 1.3 percentage points), while RIM rounded out the top five with 7.1 percent share.

Smartphone Platform Market Share

87.4 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in September, up 12 percent from the preceding three month period. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 44.8 percent market share, up 4.6 percentage points from the prior three-month period. Apple secured the #2 position, growing 0.8 percentage points to account for 27.4 percent of the smartphone market. RIM ranked third with 18.9 percent share, followed by Microsoft (5.6 percent) and Symbian (1.8 percent).

Mobile Content Usage

In September, 71.1 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, up 1.5 percentage points. Browsers were used by 42.9 percent of subscribers (up 2.8 percentage points), while downloaded applications were used by 42.5 percent (up 3.0 percentage points). Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 2.4 percentage points to 31.5 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing was done by 28.8 percent of the mobile audience (up 1.9 percentage points), while 20.9 percent listened to music on their phones (up 1.9 percentage points).

Top Mobile OEMs

Top Smartphone Platforms