Samsung holds onto top spot in US handset market

Samsung Electronics Co. remains the top handset manufacturer, maintaining a 25.6% share of total U.S. mobile subscribers for the three-month period ended in February, according to comScore Inc.

The market-research firm's survey of 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers found that LG Electronics Inc.'s share of cellphone owners dropped to 19.4% from 20.5% during the three months ended November, while the No. 3 handset manufacturer, Apple Inc., increased its share to 13.5% from 11.2%.

ComScore said 234 million Americans aged 13 and older used mobile devices during the three-month average period ended in February. Of those subscibers, more than 104 million owned smartphones.

Google Inc.'s Android saw its smartphone market share jump to 50.1% for the period ended in February from 46.9% in the prior three months. The boost marks the first time in its history that the Google Android captured a majority of the smartphone market.

Apple ranked second with 30.2% of the smartphone market, up from 28.7%, while Research In Motion Ltd.'s share

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