Android US market share up 2.8 points to 64.9% from March to May thanks to Galaxy S6; LG nearly doubled its share of the US smartphone market YoY
Samsung GS6 US Sales Bode Well For Android June Quarter — The latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech for the three months ending …
Context & Ripple Effects
This is an early snapshot of a pattern that kept repeating in the coverage: Samsung's flagship cycle is the single biggest swing variable in Android's US position. Kantar's March–May window captures the Galaxy S6 launch quarter, and the same methodology a year later showed the S7 outselling the iPhone 6s in the identical three-month span.
The caveat matters: per the related reporting, the S6 ultimately fell short of market expectations and contributed to a Samsung profit decline, so this 64.9% peak sits atop a fragile base — the Snapdragon-810 exclusion also meant Qualcomm lost its slot in Samsung's marquee device. The longer arc runs through 2018 Gartner data showing Samsung down 14% YoY globally despite unit growth, then a 2020 quarter where Samsung outsold Apple in the US for the first time in three years.
First-order effects
- Apple cedes ground in the US during the launch window of a refreshed Galaxy flagship, while LG's near-doubled year-over-year share gives it standing as a second volume Android supplier alongside Samsung.
- Qualcomm exits the Galaxy S6 bill of materials, so the strongest-selling Android phone of the quarter ships without its silicon.
Second-order effects
- Carriers gain negotiating leverage from a two-strong Android lineup — Samsung's premium flagships plus LG's rising volume tier — which pressures pricing across the mid-range where LG competes.
- Rivals now read every spring flagship launch as a referendum: the S6's strong start followed by its shortfall against expectations shows how quickly quarterly share leadership can reverse, as it did when the same Kantar series later logged 7.3% YoY Android growth in the US.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, US platform share oscillates with Samsung's product cadence rather than tracking durable OS loyalty — a structure that persisted into 2020, when Strategy Analytics still recorded Samsung beating Apple in the US for the first time in three years.
- The market consolidates into a Samsung–Apple duopoly at the top with second-tier vendors like LG fighting over what remains, making vendor-level share swings — not platform totals — the real signal in quarterly tracker data.
The trend: Android's US market share has become a function of Samsung's annual flagship cycle, with each spring Galaxy launch setting the quarter's platform scoreboard.