Samsung has extended its lead as the top mobile phone maker in the US market, with Apple moving into second place, according to an industry tracker.

A survey by comScore showed that in the three-month period ending in October, South Korea's Samsung was the top manufacturer with 26.3 per cent market share, up from 25.6 per cent in the prior period.

Apple moved into second place in the US market for the first time, with a 17.8 per cent market share, up 1.5 percentage points.

South Korean maker LG was third at 17.6 per cent, followed by Motorola at 11 per cent.

The survey showed Google's Android system gained ground as the leading smartphone platform, with 53.6 per cent of the market, up from 52.2 per cent.

Apple's iOS platform for its iPhones remained in second place, and gained 0.9 points of market share to 34.3 per cent, comScore said.

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion saw its share slip further from 9.5 per cent to 7.8 per cent in the period.

Microsoft, which released its Windows Phone 8 platform in late October, saw its share dip to 3.2 per cent from 3.6 per cent.

The survey, released in the US on Friday, found 121.3 million people in the US owned smartphones, or 51.9 per cent of the mobile market.