Nielsen: Majority of US cellphone purchases are smartphones

The era of the smartphone is here, with a recent Nielsen survey showing that 55 percent of U.S. consumers who purchased a new handset in the past three months reported choosing a smartphone over a bare-bones, no bells-and-whistles feature phone, up from 34 percent just a year ago.

The May survey of U.S. mobile consumers show 38 percent now own smartphones, and within that Android commands the biggest chunk with 38 percent, but Apple iOS is in striking distance at 27 percent and has shown the most growth in recent months. In the chart below, Nielsen finds that Android reached a plateau in 2011 in terms of growth, holding at 27 percent in recent acquisition share vs. the Apple iOS's continued rise, from 10 to 17 percent since the year began.

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