When the Apple iPhone launched six years ago the team at Microsoft watched as its mobile OS stock plummeted. Fast forward to present day and Apple still dominates the market with iOS, while Samsung has all but consolidated the Google Android market to call its own. So where does that leave Microsoft? The company’s new Windows Phone 8 platform has actually been gaining some ground after more than half a decade struggle for the tech giant.
According to market research firm ABI Research, the total smartphone shipments during the third quarter of 2013 reached 244 million units with over 55% of all mobile phones shipped during the quarter.
Based on those numbers Samsung was responsible for an industry leading 35% of all shipments during Q3 2013, while Apple held steady with a 14% marketshare. It should be noted that while Apple sells several different models at any given time, Samsung releases various entry-level, mid-level and high-end smartphones to capture different markets all over the world.
The big winner of the quarter, however, is Windows Phone which increased to a full 4% of the global market share. Those numbers are based on a 165% increase year-over-year. 95% of Windows Phone sales came by way of Nokia, a company that was recently acquired by Microsoft.
The Windows Phone 8 OS is being helped along by the failure of BlackBerry devices.
In the meantime Google Android based devices controlled 81% of all smartphone sales in China for Q3 2013.
According to ABI senior analyst Michael Morgan: “The race for the third ecosystem is clearly favoring Windows Phone with 4% market share, over BlackBerry’s 1.5%, but there remains little opportunity for new market entrants to make a significant impact on Android’s dominance.”
Do you think Microsoft Windows Phone 8 and future OS versions from the tech giant can take over a larger part of the smartphone market for iOS and Android-based devices?
