For the first time, Google's mobile operating system, Android, holds more than half of the smartphone market, according to market analytics firm ComScore.

As of July, Android held a 52.2 percent share of the market, a 1.4-point gain from the previous quarter, ComScore said on Tuesday, Sept. 4. Apple's iOS grabbed the second place with 33.4 percent of the market, up two points from the previous quarter. The rest of the top five consists of Research in Motion's BlackBerry OS, Microsoft's Windows Phone and Nokia's Symbian OS.

RIM's BlackBerry OS came as a distant third with a 9.5 percent share, down 2.1 points from the previous quarter. Microsoft's Windows Phone platform seized 3.6 percent of the market, a loss of nearly a half of a percentage point, while Nokia's Symbian came in fifth with just 0.8 percent of the market, down half a percentage point.

Meanwhile, Samsung also scored an important victory; for the first time, the Samsung Galaxy S3 surpassed Apple's iPhone as the top-selling smartphone in the United States, said Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley. According to CNET, the analyst's retail checks found higher demand for the Galaxy S3, but lighter sales for Apple's iPhone 4S last month.

On the other hand, a slight decline in iPhone sales was expected ahead of the big launch of the next-generation smartphone, as consumers typically delay their purchases until the new model comes out. Apple has just sent out invitations for a Sept. 12 event at which it is expected to unveil its new iPhone iteration.

Apple has seen the biggest gain in market share among mobile phone manufacturers, climbing almost 2 percentage point to seize 16.3 percent of the market, ComScore reported. The Cupertino, California tech giant remained in third place, however, behind Samsung and LG, which grabbed 25.6 percent and 18.4 percent of the market, respectively. Meanwhile, Motorola held 11.2 percent, followed by HTC with 6.4 percent. In terms of the retail market, Walkley's checks also found declining demand for handsets from HTC, Nokia and RIM.

During the three-month period ended in July, roughly 234 million people in the United States, aged 13 and older, owned mobile phones. ComScore polled more than 30,000 mobile subscribers in the U.S. for its latest report.