Android continued to increase its share of smartphones sold over the last year for the three month period ending February 2013, while Sprint and Samsung also saw increases, according to the latest data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. With more than half (51.2%) of smartphone sales, Android grew 5.8 percent year-over-year. iOS remains in second place with 43.5 percent of smartphone sales, down for a consecutive period by 3.5 percent. Windows continued to make gains with up to 4.1 percent of smartphone sales. The top carrier remained Verizon with 35 percent of smartphones sold in the three months ending in February. While AT&T still holds second place, Sprint increased its sales by 2.1 percent, now representing 15 percent of smartphones sold.
Of those who changed their phone over the last year to a Samsung smartphone, 19 percent has previously owned a Samsung featurephone, 15 percent owned an HTC smartphone, 14 percent owned an LG featurephone, 10 percent owned a Samsung smartphone and 9 percent owned a BlackBerry. Of those who purchased a Samsung in the last year, 52 percent purchased a Galaxy S III, 21 percent a Galaxy S II and 5 percent a Galaxy Note II. Compared to purchasers of other brands, Samsung purchasers were most likely to cite "handset cost" and "carrier brand" as key drivers.
