Smartphone penetration in the US passed the 50 percent mark in Q3, according to new figures from ComScore.

The study found that 119.3 million people in the US had smartphones at the end of September, representing 51 percent mobile market penetration. The number of smartphone users was up 8 percent on the previous quarter.

Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with a 52.5 percent market share (up 0.9 percentage points), while Apple’s share increased 1.9 percentage points to 34.3 percent. RIM ranked third with a 8.4 percent share, followed by Microsoft (3.6 percent) and Symbian (0.6 percent).

In total, 234 million of the US population aged 13 and older were said to use mobile devices.

Samsung ranked as the top OEM overall (not just smartphones), with 26 percent of US mobile subscribers using a device from the South Korean vendor – up 0.4 percentage points on Q2.

LG had a 17.7 percent share (down 1.1 percentage points), but finds its number-two spot under threat from Apple on 17.5 percent (up 2.1 percentage points). Completing the top five is Motorola (10.9 percent) and HTC (6.2 percent).