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Nielsen: BlackBerry nearly a non-factor in Q2, Android and iOS take top spots

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 8:29PM EST
BGR

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New numbers from Nielsen illustrate what has long been obvious to anyone who pays attention to technology: old feature phones will soon be a thing of the past. Nielsen reported on Thursday that two-thirds of new mobile phones purchased in the second quarter of 2012 were smartphones. What’s more, Nielsen found that just under 55% of all U.S. mobile subscribers owned smartphones, meaning something that was considered a high-end item just five years ago is now commonplace.

As far as smartphone operating systems go, Nielsen found that recent adopters over the past quarter unsurprisingly gravitated toward Android, which accounted for 54.6% of all new smartphone purchases, and iOS, which accounted for 36.3% of all new smartphone purchases. RIM’s BlackBerry devices continued to lose market share during the quarter, as BlackBerry OS smartphones accounted for just 4% of all new smartphone purchases — just two quarters ago, RIM’s share among new smartphone buyers sat at 15%.

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Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.