Ten days of iPhone 5s and 5c sales help Apple break 40 percent in U.S. smartphone market

Apple’s share of the U.S. smartphone market grew by 0.7 percent in the last quarter to reach 40.6 percent, according to comScore data.

Sales of low-cost handsets mean that Android’s position as leading mobile platform is safe, with a marginal drop to 51.8 percent of the market, but Apple remained top of the vendor rankings …

Second-placed Samsung grew faster at 1.2 percent, but remains more than 15 percent behind the market leader. HTC and Motorola lost market share, while LG remained static in 5th place.

The iPhone 5s and 5c were of course launched on 20th September, with a record-breaking 9m handsets sold in the first three days, but comScore’s figures reflecting only the first ten days of sales. With the iPhone 5c looking to be a slower burner, and a likely bet as a holiday gift, we’ll be watching for Q4’s numbers with interest …

comScore’s figures are based on a combination of web and app analytics and a large-scale survey of U.S. consumers.