Nielsen: Young adults and teens push smartphone growth in US, with Android at 52 percent of OS market share in July

Élyse Betters | Sep 10 2012 - 9:11 am PT

While getting its graphics’ proportions right this time around, research firm Nielsen revealed July 2012 findings today and announced 55.5-percent of mobile subscribers in the United States now own smartphones with young adults and teenagers leading the charge.

According to the Nielsen blog:

As mobile manufacturers announce new phones in advance of the holidays, Nielsen took a snapshot look at the mobile market in the U.S. Smartphone penetration continued to grow in July 2012, with 55.5 percent of mobile subscribers in the U.S. now owning smartphones. This is a significant increase compared to July 2011 when only 41 percent of mobile subscribers owned smartphones.

Overall, young adults are leading the growth in smartphone ownership in the U.S., with 74 percent of 25-34 year-olds now owning smartphones, up from 59 percent in July 2011. Interestingly, teenagers between 13 and17 years old demonstrated the most dramatic increases in smartphone adoption, with the majority of American teens (58%) owning a smartphone, compared to roughly a third (36%) of teens saying they owned a smartphone just a year ago.

Android still dominates the smartphone OS market in terms of owners and recent acquirers, at 51.9-percent and 58.6-percent respectively, but iOS maintains second place with 34 percent of smartphone owners and 33 percent of recent acquirers.

Nielsen’s monthly survey is conducted across 20,000 mobile subscribers from the ages of 13 and up in the U.S.

Get additional details at Nielsen.

This article is cross posted at 9to5Mac.