The number of smartphone owners in the U.S. has risen five percent since February. Google Android (News - Alert) is the top smartphone platform. And Apple, which between February and May continued to grow its share, now commands nearly a third of the U.S. smartphone subscribers.

That’s the word from comScore (News - Alert) Inc., which on July 2 issued its latest MobiLens report. ComScore as part of the effort surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers. The entire U.S. mobile subscriber base included almost 110 million people as of the end of May.

The report was issued just a week after the iPhone marked its five-year anniversary, as noted by Sarah Radwanick in a June 29 comScore blog.

“Today marks the five year anniversary of the first iPhone release, an important milestone not only for Apple (News - Alert) but for the entire mobile industry,” she wrote. “This revolutionary device set the stage for explosive growth in the smartphone market, drastically changing the complexion of the mobile industry and, consequently, the entire digital landscape in just a few short years. In July 2007, barely 9 million Americans owned a smartphone – representing just 4 percent of the entire mobile market. Today nearly 110 million Americans own a smartphone and by the end of the year smartphone owners will become the new mobile majority in the U.S.”

Google Android in the U.S. owns 50.9 percent market share as of May. That’s up 0.8 percentage points from February. Apple’s share of the smartphone market was 31.9 percent as of May, according to comScore, which says that’s up 1.7 percentage points in the same time period.

RIM is third with 11.4 percent, and Microsoft and Symbian are a distant fourth and fifth, with four percent and 1.1 percent shares, respectively.

However, it’s Samsung that is the top handset manufacturer in the U.S.

“Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.7 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 0.1 percentage points), followed by LG with 19.1 percent share,” according to comScore. “Apple continued to grow its share in the OEM market, ranking third with 15.0 percent (up 1.5 percentage points), followed by Motorola with 12.0 percent and HTC (News - Alert) with 6.1 percent.”

The most widely used smartphone feature by this group is text messaging, with 74.8 percent uptake, according to comScore.

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