As of February 2012, 49.7% of US mobile subscribers now own smartphones, up from just 36% a year ago, says Nielsen Research.
The UK has around 50% smartphone penetration, dominated by Apple’s iPhone.
The US growth is driven by more than two-thirds of new phone buyers in the last three months choosing a smartphone over a feature phone.
Android devices continue to dominate the smartphone market in the US, with 48% of smartphone owners saying they owned an Android OS device. Nearly a third (32.1%) of smartphone users have an Apple iPhone, and Blackberry owners represented another 11.6%.