Android increased its US smartphone market share to more than 50 percent for the first time during the three months to February 2012.

Digital measurement firm ComScore found that Android’s market share hit 50.1 percent, up from 46.9 percent in November 2011 and up 17 percentage points compared to February 2011. Google announced this week that nearly 3 percent of all Android devices have now been upgraded to the latest Ice Cream Sandwich version of the OS.

Apple’s iOS had the second largest share with 30.2 percent of the market, up five percentage points compared to a year ago. RIM's BlackBerry OS came in third with 13.4 percent, followed by Microsoft's Windows Phone (3.9 percent) and Symbian (1.5 percent).

The survey found that Samsung’s market share remained static at 25.6 percent, keeping it at top spot for handset vendors. LG was second with 19.4 percent of the market, followed by Apple’s 13.5 percent, Motorola (12.8 percent) and HTC, which increased its share by 0.4 percentage points to 6.3 percent.

The research also found that 104 million US consumers own a smartphone, up 14 percent compared to November 2011. Downloaded applications were used by 49.5 percent of mobile subscribers, with social networks attracting 36.1 percent, mobile games, 32.3 percent, and music, 24.8 percent.