Much has been made this past week of Android’s recent growth spurt, and NPD Group adds to that fire with new numbers that show Android sold more smartphones than any other platform in the second quarter of 2010.
NPD’s latest research reveals that Android accounted for 33 percent of all smartphones purchased in the second quarter, ahead of Research In Motion (RIM) with 28 percent and Apple at 22 percent.
“For the second consecutive quarter, Android handsets have shown strong but slowing sell-through market share gains among U.S. consumers,” said Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis for NPD, in a statement. “While the Google-developed OS took market share from RIM, Apple’s iOS saw a small gain this quarter on the strength of the iPhone 4 launch.”
Based on U.S. consumer purchases of mobile phones in the second quarter, NPD found the Top 5 Android smartphones were as follows: Motorola Droid, HTC Droid Incredible, HTC Evo 4G, HTC Hero and lastly the HTC Droid Eris.
Rubin noted that BlackBerry 6, RIM’s new operating system, includes several features that have been popular in recently launched Android phones, such as a capacitive touch screen, a web-kit based browser and expanded app support. Still, he pointed out that the Blackberry Torch’s smaller screen (3.2-inch) pales comparatively when placed next to those on the Motorola Droid X and HTC Evo 4G, which both feature 4.3-inch touchscreens.
Earlier this week Nielsen published numbers that showed Android growth outpaced that of the iPhone over the past six months. According to Nielsen, Android took 27 percent of new smartphone subscribers by the second quarter of this year while the iPhone snagged 23 percent of new smarpthone subscribers.
Nielsen said that BlackBerry remained No. 1 in total U.S. market share, capturing 35 percent of smartphone users, with Apple taking 28 percent and Android 13 percent.
