The platform remains on top of the smartphone market overall Android sitting on 56.3 percent in Q2 2012 but Apple's OS is fast playing catch up, up 10 percentage points to a 33.2 percent share during the same period.
Two horse race
The supposed shift in power, Strategy Analytics claims, due to a general slowing in smartphone shipments, thanks largely to a "volatile economy."
"We estimate Android shipped 13.4 million smartphones for 56 percent share of the United States market in the second quarter of 2012," added executive director Neil Mawston.
"This was down from 15.3 million units shipped and 61 percent share a year earlier.
"Android remains the number one platform by volume in the United States, but its market share is approaching a peak and Apple iOS has been gaining ground. Apple's US market share has risen by ten points from 23 percent in Q2 2011 to 33 percent in Q2 2012."
The worry for Google, Strategy Analytics suggests, is that Apple's growth comes ahead of a rumoured pending launch of the iPhone 5, expected to eat into Android's share further before the year is out.
[source: BusinessWire]
