A new study of mobile phones from Nielsen finds that half (49.7%) of all mobile phones in February of 2012 were smartphones, a significant increase from a year earlier when just over one third (36%) were smartphones.
The proportion is also growing rapidly. Of those surveyed in February of 2011, Nielsen data found that over two thirds of all those who had purchased a new phone in the three months before the survey had chosen a smartphone.
In terms of operating systems, Android continued to dominate with 48% market share, followed by Apple's iPhones (32.1%) and Blackberry (11.6%). But Apple is grabbing a much higher proportion of new phone sales. In the three months before the survey, 43% of those who had purchased a new phone bought an Apple product. Android new phone sales remained constant (48%), but Blackberry declined to 5%.
