Nielsen has announced that as of February 2012, nearly 50 percent of U.S. mobile phone subscribers now have smartphones. This rate is up from 36 percent in February 2011, with over 66 percent of new cell phone buyers in the past three months choosing a smartphone over a feature phone.

Android phones have 48 percent of the smartphone market, while iPhone had around 32 percent; over the past three months 48 percent of smartphone purchasers bought an Android phone and 43 percent bought an iPhone. Blackberry’s market share has shrunk to 11.6 percent.