Windows 10 Mobile was expected to make things easier for Microsoft as the software giant struggles to gain a decent market share in the smartphone industry. With every passing month, the market share of Windows Phone continues to decline in a competitive market dominated by iOS and Android.
Earlier today, the market research firm Kantar WorldPanel released their latest figures for the quarter ending February 2016, and it doesn’t really present a bright picture for Microsoft’s mobile operating system. The operating system had somewhat decent presence in the European market (including Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain), but things aren’t too impressive in the latest numbers there either.
For the month ending February 2016, Windows Phone fell to 5.9 percent from 10.1 percent in the same quarter last year — a fall of 4.2 percent. Italy was apparently a strong market for Windows Phone, but it has declined — a fall of 7.7 percent compared to the same quarter last year. France also reported a decline of 6.8 percent, while the remaining big Europe markets were around 2 percent decline.
It’s not just Europe, the market share fell to 2.6 percent in the US from 5.8 percent, while Australia also reported a decline of 3.3 percent for the three months ending February 2016. As for China, it’s dominated by Android as there are a handful of local manufacturers who release decent devices at extremely competitive price — Microsoft has negligible 0.9 percent share in one of the biggest smartphone markets across the globe.
As for other operating systems, Android continues to rise in China as well as other global markets. The market share in urban China rose to 76.4% from 73% in the same period a year ago. Europe and US also report a pretty decent increase in the market share, 6.7 and 3.3 percent respectively.
“Android showed solid growth in urban China during the three months ending February 2016, due to strong sales during the period around Chinese New Year (February 8). This is always a busy promotional season, and Android brands were able to take advantage,” said Lauren Guenveur, mobile analyst for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.
As for Apple, it will be interesting to see if the newly announced iPhone SE can boost the sales of the company. It’s already available in major smartphone markets carrying a $399 price tag, which may attract users who don’t want to spend over $600 for an iPhone 6S, especially in markets where contract pricing doesn’t exist.
