Home
Mobiles
Mobiles News
Microsoft's Windows Phone Market Share Shrinks Below 1 Percent: Gartner

Microsoft's Windows Phone Market Share Shrinks Below 1 Percent: Gartner

By Ketan Pratap | Updated: 23 May 2016 18:15 IST

Highlights

Android dominated with 84.1 percent market share, as per Gartner.
iOS followed on second spot with 14.8 percent market share.
Huawei, Oppo, and Xiaomi made it to top 3 vendors in Q1 2016.

Microsoft launched its last Lumia handset, the Lumia 650, back in February this year. The decreasing number of Lumia handsets has certainly showed up in worldwide sales of Windows Phone smartphones. Overall though, Gartner says worldwide smartphone sales in Q1 2016 grew 3.9 percent year on year.

Gartner's Q1 2016 worldwide smartphone sales report found Microsoft or Windows Phone's market share shrunk to less than 1 percent (0.7 to be precise) in the first quarter of 2016, from 2.5 percent a year earlier. Gartner has come out with its latest data showing that Android yet again rules the worldwide smartphone market with 84.1 percent market share while iOS follows second at 14.8 percent in the first quarter.

The market condition of Windows Phones may further worsen as the company recently revealed it had no plans to launch any new Windows Phone-based devices this year.

The company recently announced while selling its feature phone assets to Foxconn that it will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia phones including the Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL. The Redmond giant has been struggling to keep up with Apple and Android OEMs in the smartphone ecosystem, and saw a 46 percent drop year-on-year on mobile revenues this last quarter. Microsoft is said to heavily rely on its upcoming Surface range of smartphones that made headlines for months and is expected to be unveiled only in "early 2017."

Gartner's latest report also claimed that Apple registered its first double-digit decline year-on-year, with the company's market share at 14.8 percent at the end of the quarter. Samsung remained the top handset maker with 23 percent market share. The latest data also claimed that the first quarter of 2016 saw three Chinese brands - Huawei (8.3 percent), Oppo (4.6 percent), and Xiaomi (4.3) rounding up the top five smartphone vendors in terms of sales, taking roughly 17 percent market share together.

Speaking about Nokia's upcoming re-entry into the smartphone market with brand-licensing model, Anshul Gupta, Research Director at Gartner, said, "Nokia's announced return to the smartphone and tablet markets will not be an easy mission. In today's market it takes much more than a well-known brand to sell devices. Making good hardware won't be an issue for Nokia, but users need a compelling reason to remain loyal to the same brand. Furthermore, that the smartphone market is slowing down makes it difficult for mobile phone vendors to reach previous levels of growth. New company HMD is entering the market at a less prosperous time, making it even more difficult for the vendor to do well in the short term."

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Apple, Gartner, Microsoft, Samsung, Surface, Windows Phones

Ketan Pratap

Email Ketan

Ketan Pratap is the editor at Gadgets 360 - with over 12 years of experience covering the technology domain. With a breadth and depth of knowledge in the field, he's done extensive work across news, features, reviews, and opinion pieces. But what's truly inspiring about Ketan is how he spends his free time. He's often found gazing at snow-capped mountains from over 20,000 feet while sitting on the hood of his car, taking in the breathtaking beauty of nature. His passion for the great ...More