Android Dominates Smartphone Market in Q3; iPhone Most Popular Hardware

The Nielsen research firm has just released its Q3 smartphone report, and while nothing has dramatically changed since Q2, the stats still prove interesting. As I’m sure most people would expect, Apple has retained the lead as being the largest hardware vendor, securing 28.3% of smartphone shipments during the quarter. Research In Motion coasts behind with 17.8%, while HTC settles in at third with 15.0%.

In terms of OS usage, the same numbers are shared between Apple and RIM, but where Android is concerned, its total marketshare becomes 42.8%, compared to Apple’s 28.3%. Windows Phone 7 falls well into fourth place with a 6.1% marketshare, while those belonging to the <2% camp being Palm/WebOS, Symbian and other versions of Windows Phone.

According to the same report, 44% of mobile subscribers in the US own a smartphone, and of those, 71% own either an Android or iOS device. In addition, a staggering 83% of all smartphone owners who downloaded apps during the same quarter did so on either Android or iOS. Unfortunately, there is no further break-down here.

In terms of OS usage, Android seems super-secure in #1 as its Q2 result was about 40%. Neither iOS or BlackBerry have moved much at all, at least according to an earlier report. With RIM still working hard to retain its subscriber base though, and Android still continuing to grow, Q4’s results should prove even more interesting than these.