Apple iOS Tops U.S. Smartphone Market

While recent data indicates that Google's Android operating system leads the global smartphone market, Apple's iOS is the top-selling platform here in the U.S., according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

During the 12-week period ending Nov. 25, iOS nabbed 53.3 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, marking the first time the platform surpassed 50 percent sales share, the research firm said. During the same period, Android sales dropped 10.9 percent to 41.9 percent of the market, while Windows took third place with 2.7 percent of smartphones sold.

"The iPhone 5 has been successful this period however we also see that Apple's older models — the iPhone 4S and 4 have also contributed to the growing share of iOS," Kantar Worldpanel ComTech analyst Mary-Ann Parlato said in a statement. "This is particularly the case for first-time smartphone iPhone buyers where we see the older models still selling well amongst this group."

AT&T was the top-selling U.S. smartphone carrier, with 35.4 percent of all smartphones sold during the period, followed by Verizon with 31.9 percent of sales. Sprint came in third with 14.5 percent of sales, but saw the largest decline year over year, falling 5 percent.

Twenty-seven percent of those who purchased an iPhone in November upgraded from another smartphone OS, while 34 percent upgraded from an older iPhone model, and 40 percent were purchasing their first smartphone.

Apple's iOS for the first time became Verizon's top-selling OS during the period thanks to first-time smartphone buyers who chose the iPhone. Verizon saw 44 percent of its feature phone users upgrade to an iPhone, compared to 38 percent of AT&T's feature phone user base. Meanwhile, more than half of AT&T's existing iPhone user base upgraded to a newer iPhone model, compared to just 15 percent of Verizon users.

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