Apple’s iPhone 4S proved to be the catalyst that jumpstarted iPhone sales last quarter, a new study from Nielsen has found.

Among american citizens who purchased a new smartphone within the last three months, forty four.5 % of those surveyed in December bought an iPhone, striking Apple’s handset simply behind Android smartphones, which have been picked up via 46.9 % of December respondents, in line with Nielsen. RIM’s BlackBerry earned 4.5 p.c marketplace proportion.

That finding stands in stark contrast to results from Nielsen’s October survey of users who bought a new smartphone in the previous three months. That time around, 61.6 percent of consumers said they chose an Android-based handset, and just 25.1 percent said they bought an iPhone. BlackBerry came in third place with 7.7 percent market share.

Not surprisingly, Apple’s iPhone 4S, which launched in October, was the reason the corporate’s phone performed such a lot better later in the year. in fact, Nielsen found that 57 % of latest iPhone owners surveyed in December purchased the iPhone 4S. The analysis company didn’t say how many bought the iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4.

Apple’s iPhone 4S proved to be a hit nearly immediately. The company announced back in October that in the iPhone 4S’ first weekend of availability, it sold 4 million units, doubling iPhone 4 sales during its first weekend. Part of the iPhone 4S’ appeal was pent-up demand, as consumers waited over a year to get their hands on the device.

But at the same time as extra shoppers flocked to the iPhone, Apple may just do little to prevent Android from dominating the cellphone area last quarter. consistent with Nielsen, Android captured 46.three % market percentage all the way through the 3-month length, easily outpacing Apple’s three0 percent share. RIM came in 3rd position with 1four.nine percent market percentage, adopted by way of home windows cellular at four.6 p.c proportion.

Over the entire three-month period–not monthly, as previously shown–it was a similar story. During the fourth quarter, 51.7 percent of people who bought devices went with an Android handset. Apple’s iPhone nabbed 37 percent share. RIM’s BlackBerry came in at 6 percent.

Looking past iPhones and Android, Nielsen discovered that forty six % of all united states of america-primarily based cellular customers final quarter owned a goodphone, and the corporate expects that figure to develop.