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This is what I had to say on the topic 6 months ago in Risk Factors Threaten Apple Margins: Losing Its Cool, Losing The Tech Race, Losing The Legal Battles, Losing The Price Wars:

 NPD: Android attracting more than half of new smartphone shoppers:

Apple was named the best-selling U.S. handset brand during the fourth quarter, according to a new report from the NPD Group.

However, the findings suggest that while iOS has won this battle, Android is really winning the war.

Take a look at the graph below:

Not only do 48 percent of all smartphone buyers own Android smartphones (versus a close 43 percent on iOS), there is a much bigger disparity for first-time smartphone buyers. Android is attracting more than half of them at 57 percent, while Apple is considerably behind at 34 percent.

The quality of the OS has mythological lore in the pop media as well, as this article jives with my own personal experience with iOS on my iPad (which I ended up giving away) - iPhone iOS Apps Crash More Than Android: Report. App depth, pricing, dversity in offerings and superior tech have led to Samsung, Android continuing its U.S. lead through December, despite the blowout quarter from Apple...

RESTON, VA, February 2, 2012 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending December 2011. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.3 percent market share. Google Android strengthened its lead in the smartphone market to reach 47.3 percent market share. Covering the three-month period ending December 31, Samsung remained constant without any changes in its portion of the market share — likely because the anticipated Galaxy Nexus did not make a debut on shelves until nearly the end of the quarter.

The only mobile OEM to post an increase was Apple, which ranked fourth with 12.4 percent of the market share and a 2.2 percent point change. 

Putting this in perspective allows one to see just how far Android has shot ahead in such a short amount of time. Last quarter was Apple's biggest quarter ever for a variety of reasons that are the result of the confluence of a swath of unrepeatable factors. Despite such an outrageous quarter that likely will never be repeated, Apple still has less than than half the market share of Samsung, its largest vendor (we aren't talking Google's Android here, we're talking Apple's own [other] vendor, Samsung). This is relevant for a variety of reasons. For one Samsung's tech is vastly superior to that of Apple's. Marketing and fanboisms aside, practically any objective review agrees with this assertions. We did a head to head comparison of the iPhone 4GS and the Samsung Galaxy 2S during the last BoomBustBlog meet and greet. For those who weren't there, simple peruse YouTube for the many professional comparisons to be found. 

You see, the cool thing about YouTube is that you can interact with the TV audience. There are nearly a million views of their comparison with nearly 3,300 likes/dislikes and 5,000 comments. I invite one and all to go through them cursorily to determine what the actual populace (not the slanted media or Apple's marketing department) feels about the phones, and more importantly, what their next phone will be. 

As for Android, there’s no stopping it anytime soon. The platform now covers 47.3 percent of the U.S. mobile market share. Again, in the top five only Apple saw a surge in its cut as iOS placed second with 29.6 percent.

Last week I warned of Evidence Of Apple's Margin Compression Crops Up Once Again - Competition is a Bitch