Counterpoint: iPhone active installed base overtook Android to gain 50%+ share of the US smartphone market in Q2, up from 35% in 2019 and the highest since 2007
Apple’s US position has moved from a temporary lead in iPhone sales to parity in new-device activations: CIRP found iOS and Android each accounted for 50% of US activations in Q2 2021. Counterpoint’s installed-base measure now indicates that the accumulated base, rather than just quarterly sales, has crossed in Apple’s favor.
The distinction matters because active devices are the durable audience for Apple’s ecosystem. Apple says the App Store reaches more than 800 million weekly visitors, making the US base milestone relevant to developers and service distribution as well as handset sales.
First-order effects
Apple now has a majority share of active US smartphones by Counterpoint’s measure, giving its iPhone ecosystem the larger domestic installed-device audience.
Android’s combined US installed base falls below Apple’s, despite the platform having matched iOS in US activations in the prior Q2 comparison.
Second-order effects
US developers and service providers gain a stronger incentive to prioritize iPhone distribution and monetization, since Apple controls a larger share of the active-device audience they can reach through its ecosystem.
Android vendors and Google face greater pressure to convert activation parity into retention, because new-device share alone no longer prevents Apple from widening its installed-base advantage.
Third-order effects
If the gap persists, US smartphone competition will be judged increasingly by control of active devices and the revenue they support, rather than by shipment or activation share alone.
A larger entrenched iPhone base would reinforce platform competition around app distribution and recurring services, concentrating the value of device ownership beyond the initial handset sale.
The trend: The US smartphone market is shifting from a battle for quarterly activations to one for the active installed base that anchors ecosystem revenue.
Apple overtakes Android in USA. Very happy seeing the original one winning in the most important market. So many device makers ans Google combined V/s one innovator who built and scaled innovation like no other ! #AppleFanBoy https://giftarticle.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
A lot of slogans in tech need the disclaimer that past success does not guarantee future results. It used to be conventional wisdom that open systems beat closed ones. Yet Apple's closed iOS ecosystem keeps beating Androids open one where it matters most. https://www.ft.com/...
Interesting piece by @PatrickMcGee_ in today's @FT on Apple's ever-stronger position in the US market & other affluent economies. It is little wonder the leading Android phone makers are concerned as Apple keeping chipping away mkt share. Find it here: https://giftarticle.ft.com/…
Read our Research Director @JeffFieldhack's thoughts on @FT's new article “@Apple overtakes #Android to pass 50% share of #smartphones used in US” Link here: https://www.ft.com/... #Apple #iPhone #iOS #technews #technology
Apple has overtaken Android devices to account for more than half of smartphones used in the US. The milestone suggests Apple has never been in a more competitive position. https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
“Apple overtakes Android to account for 50% of smartphones used in US ... the iPhone's highest share since it launched in 2007”. “It's not that we are seeing a big year where $AAPL grows its market share 10% or 15% ... they quietly just grab more share every year”. $GOOG $META ht…