Android Is The 'Most Wanted' Smartphone: Nielsen

What a difference a year makes: a new survey showed that Android phones are the most wanted smartphone in the U.S., overtaking the previously more desirable iPhones.

Of consumers planning to buy a smartphone, 31 percent prefer phones with the Android OS, according to Nielsen. Apple's iOS came in second at 30 percent, trailed by RIM Blackberry at 11 percent.

But last year, Apple took first with 33 percent of the vote, followed by now-champ Android with 26 percent. In case you thought it was just talk, sales also show Android phones beating iPhone sales. Half of the people surveyed in March 2011 who had purchased a phone over the past six months bought an Android phone, while only a quarter of the same group bought iPhones.

Big picture: Android phones are 37 percent of the overall installed base of smartphones, while Apple iOS only has 27 percent, and Blackberry, in last, 22 percent. A report by comScore also showed Android's market share zooming past the iPhone's.

Comments

[JustJoy7]

07:33 PM on 04/28/2011

Love my new Droid Thunderbolt! Still a lot to learn about it, and my only complaint is the volume won't go high enough. If I'm not near it, I miss calls/texts. Anyone know how to fix this? I have it set as high as it will go from the settings.

[JackHoffman]

11:33 AM on 04/28/2011

My fingers are too big to fit into the round holes on the dialer and the cord is too short to even get me to the corner store.

[Natems86]

11:17 AM on 04/28/2011

I'm still waiting on the HUMANCENTiPAD

[PalletJack]

10:36 AM on 04/28/2011

Y'mean not everyone will buy the same phone?
Gosh.

[MiaisAwesome]

05:13 AM on 04/28/2011

I love my Blackberry.

[silverhair01]

11:22 PM on 04/27/2011

Android phones are offered across many wireless carriers...iPhone is only with two...so it's not surprising...especially if you take into account the iPhone is an old version

[JasonMcl]

07:55 AM on 04/28/2011

The iphone is offered on many different carriers all over the world.
The US market is not the only one that matters.

[menschmaschine5]

11:58 AM on 04/28/2011

The US is, I believe, the only country in which a carrier got an exclusivity deal with the iPhone. In fact, from my understanding, in most European countries, people buy an unlocked GSM phone and then choose a carrier, not the other way around.

[Busterandme]

01:58 PM on 04/27/2011

Sprint Samsung Epic is, well, epic!

[jomcty]

01:31 PM on 04/27/2011

Love mu Google Nexus S!

[Gronkie]

01:26 PM on 04/27/2011

I'm actually in the market for four new phones, probably later today. The iPhone isn't even in the running. I'll probably get the Thunderbolt, and the rest of the family like the X, with the slide out keyboard. None of us want to be trapped in the Apple system, which is mostly hype anyway.

[Uhgg]

02:23 PM on 04/27/2011

The TB is 4g and the i Phone is only 3g and will not have a 4g till this fall

[menschmaschine5]

12:01 PM on 04/28/2011

Two points:
What carriers are calling 4G doesn't actually meet the standards of 4G. They're just being allowed to market it as 4G. It's certainly faster than 3G, though.

second, I have serious doubts that the next iPhone will be HSPA+ or LTE enabled. Apple will probably wait one of the current "4G" technologies to become the standard (right now we have WiMax, HSPA+ and LTE).

[75thRanger]

01:18 PM on 04/27/2011

Android all the way.

RLTW

[TeeSC]

01:45 PM on 04/27/2011

I got the Samsung Intercept through Sprint with Android.  I don't know if the problem is Android or Sprint or the phone or what but I HATE it.  Despise and detest it.  Wish I had my old cell phone...just a plain old cell phone.  The features are cool but the system sucks.  Slow to respond... freezes... pain in the butt having to "back up" to get out of a program.  Any suggestions?
 
btw... good morning... :-)))

[75thRanger]

01:55 PM on 04/27/2011

Good morning to you TeeSC:)

I've been using the HTC EVO since it first came out on Sprint and I love it. As geeky as it sounds I don't know how I functioned without it. If your phone is freezing you might want to go and download the app "lookout" to do a virus scan. You might also have your memory maxed out.....that is if you have a lot of apps.

I don't think it's Sprint but I'm biased since I've been with them since 98.

[pearlheartgtr]

06:15 PM on 04/27/2011

Go to SDX-Developers.com forum. You'll find everything you need to make your Intercept fast and stable. Just the Froyo update alone has done wonders but the devs there have new kernels that speed up the phone even more.

I have an Intercept on VM (Sprint) and I love this phone. I call it the baby Droid because it is now as fast, if not faster than my sister's Droid X.

[Silverwolf72]

12:48 PM on 04/27/2011

Android is not a phone!!
Almost every manufacturer makes at least one phone that runs android, I can bet not all of them are great phones!
I do like Android but this comparing apples to oranges

[MiaisAwesome]

05:14 AM on 04/28/2011

True, iPhone is an OS that only runs on iPhones and Android is an OS that can run on many phones.

[DefineReality]

05:57 PM on 04/28/2011

Your completely right, Android is not a phone.. However, if you read the article, it said "Of consumers planning to buy a smartphone, 31 percent prefer phones with the Android OS," So they took into account that Android itself is not a phone.

More people are choosing phones with Android on it than there are people choosing phones with iOS on them..

[Colleen Keehne]

12:47 PM on 04/27/2011

I love my Android Evo 4G phone! I'm waiting for the Evo View Tablet to release now.

[Roshi98]

12:42 PM on 04/27/2011

I've had an iPhone for the last four years (was an early adopter for three generations) and recently switched to the Atrix. Have to say while the learning curve is a bit more on the Android device, in terms of overall performance and stability my iPhones can't hold a candle to this device. Atrix is on AT&T, as iPhone was until recently, and I've yet to experience a dropped call or significant lag in data transfer. The experience has been seamless.

I still use a Mac, still have an iPod, but for smartphone use I doubt I'll ever go back to the iPhone. Best device change I've ever made.

[redbadger]

02:06 PM on 04/27/2011

why would you compare the new android phones to the older iphones you've owned? Of course they can't hold a candle to them. You mean the latest tech is better than 3 or 4 year old tech?! No Way!

From what I know of the older iphones based on friends who have owned them, the iphone4 and its user experience is vastly improved over the old phones in as much as the new androids are.

[Roshi98]

10:58 PM on 04/28/2011

Did you not see the "early adopter for three gens" comment? I've had EVERY gen of iPhone and can attest without hesitation that my Atrix is better than iPhone 4 in nearly every way. Most importantly, while both devices are on AT&T, not one dropped call with the Android while iPhone 4, even though it was supposed to be fixed still dropped about 60% of my calls. Data transfer is also vastly superior, as is batter life. Just a superior device in all important respects.

[redbadger]

02:22 PM on 04/27/2011

why would you compare and older iphone to a new android? Of course the older iphone can't hold a candle to the newer smartphones.

[glow-in-the-dark]

12:24 PM on 04/27/2011

You may want to read the report of the Canadian Privacy Commissioner at http://www.priv.gc.ca/media/nr-c/2010/let_101019_e.cfm before you buy one - specifically point 47. Google states there it will use Android to replace its Streetview WiFi data collection program, so you are in effect signing up to spy on your friends for Google. *Not* the kind of "free" and "open" platform I'd want..

[dodgerblue101]

12:19 PM on 04/27/2011

Someone please tell me what smartphone has outsold the IPhone???

[Abe Froeman]

12:51 PM on 04/27/2011

As a fun way to skimp on details and real research HP lumped all android platform phones into a single category.

Can you tell me which iPhone has the largest market share?

[dodgerblue101]

01:04 PM on 04/27/2011

the 4 =)