The latest insights released by comScore Japan KK also revealed more than 9.7 million people in the country owned smartphones, an increase of 71% from September 2010.

The surge in smartphone adoption during the past six months has been led by Android devices, which has increased its base by nearly 3.8 million users, while the market as a whole has grown by 4.1 million users.

Both Android and Apple accounted for 87% of the smartphone market in Japan.

Smartphone Landscape by Device

Although Google Android has become the largest smartphone platform Apple iPhone remains on top of the list of most popular devices in Japan, accounting  for three of the top five devices. The other two  – Sony Ericsson’s Xperia and Toshiba’s REGZA – operate Google Android platform.

Daizo Nishitani, comScore Japan KK’s president said that although smartphone adoption rates in Japan had historically lagged behind the U.S. and Europe, it had seen a rapid increase of smartphone users in the past several months, mainly fuelled by iPhone and Android devices.

“Smartphone adoption is increasing not only in the larger cities like Tokyo, but throughout the smaller regions as well, signalling what could be the beginning of a tide change in the Japanese mobile market,” he added.