A new study showed that Apple phones accounted for 50 per cent of all mobile phones sold in the United States during the fourth quarter of 2014.

Conducted by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), the study revealed that Samsung phones accounted for 26 per cent of the total sales while LG accounted for 11 per cent.

Motorola took fourth place on the list with a four per cent market share, followed by HTC with two per cent.

The survey, which was conducted from the last week of December to the first week of January, polled 500 Americans who either re-activated a used phone or activated a new phone between October and December of last year.

The CIRP data mirrored the difficulty other mobile phone makers face when competing with Samsung and Apple in the United States, as the two firms accounted for 76 per cent of the total sales during the previous quarter.

Apple saw its market share slightly increase from the same quarter during the previous year, when its share was only 48 per cent, while Samsung saw its share significantly drop from 31 per cent in 2013.

Apple’s overwhelming success was primarily due to the release of its new flagship phones, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The popularity of these devices helped the Cupertino phone maker conquer half of the market during the fourth quarter. The feat was made even more significant by the fact that Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus only became available in December.

The CIRP survey also highlighted the loyalty of Apple users. 86 per cent of respondents who bought a new iPhone already owned Apple smartphones.

Meanwhile, 25 per cent of respondents who previously owned a Samsung smartphone switched to Apple’s iPhone.