SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple
Inc became the top mobile phone
seller for the first time in the
lucrative U.S. market during the
fourth quarter of 2012, outshining
arch rival Samsung Electronics Co
Ltd , a report by Strategy Analytics
showed.

Apple's share of the U.S. mobile
phone market, including feature
phones and smartphones, jumped to
34 percent from 26 percent, while
Samsung's share grew to 32.3
percent from 31.8 percent, the
research firm said.

Samsung had been the top mobile
phone vendor in the US since 2008,
the firm said. Indeed, for the full
year, Samsung still held the crown
for mobile phone sales; it had a 31.8
percent share of the U.S. market in
2012, against Apple's 26.2 percent.

Apple investors have recently been
anxious about the future growth
prospects for the company amid
intense competition from Samsung's
cheaper phones, powered by
Google's Android software, and
signs the premium smartphone
market may be close to saturation in
developed markets.

Overall, mobile phone shipments
rose 4 percent to 52 million units in
the U.S. during the fourth quarter
of 2012, driven by strong demand
for 4G smartphones and 3G feature
phones.

But in all of 2012, U.S. mobile phone
shipments fell 11 percent to 166.9
million, Strategy Analytics said.
Apple sold 17.7 million iPhones in
the U.S. in the fourth quarter, up 38
percent from the previous year,
driven by aggressive marketing of
its new iPhone 5 and steep carrier
subsidies, the firm said. Samsung
shipped 16.8 million phones during
the same period.

In the international arena, Samsung
Electronics, with a range of
handsets, has overtaken Apple as
the world's top smartphone seller.

www.news.yahoo.com/apple-pips-samsung-mobile-phone-sales-lead-fourth-191952374--finance.html?.tsrc=yahoo