Wave7 Research: Apple and Samsung control more than 90% of the U.S. smartphone market

Apple and Samsung control more than 90% of the smartphone market in the U.S., according to a new survey by market research firm Wave7 Research. According to the report, 94% of phones sold by Verizon and 91% of phones sold in T-Mobile stores are either Samsung Galaxy or Apple iPhone.

During the holiday month of December, the Apple iPhone 11 was the best-selling phone across the four major carriers (Sprint, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile). The best-selling Samsung phone was the Galaxy S10.

Part of the reason for this is that many popular global brands are not available in specialty stores in the U.S. Motorola, LG, and Google phones are available, and OnePlus sells the 7T Pro in T-Mobile stores, but these "other brands" are not as popular. Google's Pixel phones account for 2% to 4% of sales in carrier stores, while OnePlus' sales in T-Mobile stores account for only 2%.

Buying an unlocked phone is a rare consumer behavior in the U.S. Most American consumers choose a carrier and then go to that carrier's store to buy whatever phone is available there - mostly the latest Galaxy and iPhone flagships.

At Metro by T-Mobile, Samsung, LG and Motorola were the top-selling brands in the first half of December. Meanwhile, at Boost Mobile (Sprint MVNO), the top four best-selling brands for the month were the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy series phones, with the LG Stylo 5 in fifth place.

Although Chinese brands like Oppo, Realme, and Xiaomi have started to sell smartphones more actively in Europe over the past year, they still have no business in the U.S. According to the report, this trend seems unlikely to change in the short term unless some manufacturers spend a lot of money on advertising to change this consumption trend.