New Delhi, Jun 6 (IANS): E-commerce giant Amazon led the online smartphone sales channels in the US in the first quarter of 2018, a report said on Wednesday.

The online smartphone sales grew to 12 per cent of all devices sold in the US in the first quarter of 2018 -- up from nine per cent a year ago and Apple iPhones were the most popular models across both online and offline channels, Counterpoint's "Smartphone Channel Share Tracker" report said.

"Amazon.com was the leading sales channel in the US contributing to 22 per cent of total smartphones sold online due to a wide portfolio of devices, impeccable customer service and a growing base of Prime households and Prime smartphone bundles," Peter Richardson, Research Director, Counterpoint Research, said in a statement.

Mobile carriers' online platforms got a combined 33 per cent of total online smartphone sales while their physical outlets captured three-fourths of the total offline sales.

"Among carriers, Verizon was the largest online sales channel with its large tech consumer base, only behind Amazon in terms of total online sales. Apple.com was the third largest online channel capturing just under 11 per cent share of total smartphones sold online in the first quarter of 2018," Richardson added.

However, brick-and-mortar establishments ruled when it came to purchasing smartphones, despite the US comprising massive numbers of online consumers.

"More recently with the Samsung Galaxy S9 launch, we saw online pre-orders weaker year-over-year. Carriers and national retailers have large store counts that they are leveraging to get consumers to physically touch and test high-end devices, so they know what they are buying," said Jeff Fieldhack, Research Director, Counterpoint Research.

Meanwhile, developing markets, such as India, have the highest percentage of smartphones being sold through e-commerce channels.

China stood second with a slightly lower percentage share of online smartphone sales but is leading the market in terms of volumes of smartphones sold online globally, the Counterpoint report added.