Apple: We LOVE Eating Android’s Market Share

U.S. shipments of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android-based smartphones declined year-over-year in the second quarter of the year, and Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone made the most of the slip as its sales grew by 2 million units. According to a Strategy Analytics survey, domestic sales of the iPhone increased from 5.9 million in the second quarter of 2011 to 7.9 million in this year. Apple’s share went up from 23.2 percent to 33.2 percent. Android’s share dropped to 56.3 percent from 60.6 percent last year, with shipments falling from 15.3 million units to 13.4 million. However, this data does not yet include the sales of the Galaxy S III smartphone, which has been highly successful for Samsung.

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Research in Motion’s (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry OS also slid from a 10.5 percent share last year to 6.5 percent now, with shipments slipping by 1.1 million units.

The data also shows that total smartphone shipments in the country fell 5 percent over the year, attributable to the slow economy and purchase habits of customers who primarily buy devices only on subsidies.

“A volatile economy, maturing penetration of smartphones among contract mobile subscribers, and major operators tightening their upgrade policies to enhance profits were among the main causes of the slowdown,” Strategy Analytics’ Alex Spektor said in a statement.

While figures for the second half of the year will include the Galaxy S III numbers, they are also likely to be impacted by a possible next-generation iPhone being released in either the third or fourth quarter.

Last week, Apple announced it sold a total of 26 million iPhones in the quarter ending June globally, which was a 28 percent increase from 2011. About 3.7 million of U.S. sales came through AT&T (NYSE:T), 2.7 million through Verizon (NYSE:VZ), while the rest, 1.5 million, came from Sprint (NYSE:S).

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