• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 28, 2013

Late winter and early spring are not major shopping months -- particularly for electronics -- but that couldn’t keep smartphone sales from growing at a healthy clip during the period.

By May, 141 million U.S. consumers counted themselves as smartphone owners, which represented a significant 6% increase since February, comScore reports.

As such, nearly 60% of the U.S. population (59%) now own a Web-friendly smartphone. Apple ranked as the top original equipment manufacturer for phone makers, with 39.2% of U.S. smartphone subscribers in May -- 0.3 percentage points from February. Samsung ranked second with a 23% market share -- up 1.7 percentage points -- followed by HTC with 8.7%, Motorola with 7.8% and LG with 6.7%.

Android ranked as the top smartphone platform in May with 52.4% market share -- up 0.7 percentage points from February. Among platforms, Apple ranked second with a 39.2% market share -- up 0.3 percentage points -- followed by BlackBerry with 4.8%, Microsoft with 3% and Symbian with 0.4%.

Facing ever more competition in the mobile arena, Apple is reportedly considering iPhones with larger screens, along with cheaper models in various colors -- i.e., phones that look a lot like those made by Samsung.

Regardless of their screen size or color, smartphones are increasingly serving as marketers’ key connection to consumers.    

This year alone, eMarketer expects mobile advertising to reach $7.7 billion, which represents the bulk of incremental growth in digital advertising overall.