In March 2012, a majority (50.4%) of U.S. mobile subscribers owned smartphones, up from 47.8 percent in December 2011. Consumers purchasing new phones picked smartphones more often , and among smartphone owners Apple was the top manufacturer of smartphone handsets, while Android was the top smartphone OS. Smartphone Operating System Share Smartphone OS Share of Smartphone Owners Android OS 48.5% iOS 32.0% RIM Blackberry 11.6% Windows Mobile 4.1% Windows Phone 1.7% Other 2.1% Read as: During Q1 2012, 48 percent  of smartphone owners had a device that runs on the Android OS Source: Nielsen, Mobile Insights, Q1 2012 Who makes up this growing group of smartphone owners in the U.S.? As of Q1 2012: