Windows Phone’s market share is no where near Apple or Android — it’s quite constant in most regions based on the past numbers. However, there are some regions where Windows Phone performed quite well, mostly European countries. And based on the latest figures from Canalys, it seems the folks at Redmond have something to cheer about. According to their report (via Neowin), Windows Phone sales amounted to 570,000 units in the UK in the last quarter, a 32 percent increase when compared with the same quarter last year.
“Microsoft is attacking B2B users with decent-quality, low-cost handsets, and people are refreshing BlackBerry with Microsoft,” claimed Canalys’s Tim Coulling to The Register. “Microsoft is slowly building share without a flagship or high-spec handset – they are after the volume end of the [professional] market. This strategy will probably change when Windows 10 comes out.”
The overall smartphone market in UK declined by 1.5 percent, but Windows Phone as an operating system grabbed 7.6 percent of sales, rising from 5.8 percent in the same quarter last year.
Microsoft is relying mostly on the mid-range segment of the market at the moment, and has released a handful of budget devices over the past few months. The company has promised a new flagship device later this year, but it’s not coming before Windows 10 Mobile is officially available. Windows 10 for desktops is set to launch on July 29th, after which Microsoft will deploy its resources on the mobile version of the operating system.
On the other hand, Samsung and Apple continues to lead the smartphone market with a combined sales of 4.93 million units. Despite being on top, Samsung has seen a decline of 8.5 percent in sales in the first quarter to 2.54 million units with a market share of 33.6 percent. Microsoft remained on the third position, surpassing the struggling Sony and Motorola.
