Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform is emerging as a major challenger to Apple and Android’s dominance of the smartphone market.
The software became the world’s fastest growing smartphone platform during 3Q13, doubling its market share year-on-year by taking share out of rivals Apple and BlackBerry, research firm Strategy Analytics claims.
Senior analyst Linda Sui says Microsoft and Android smartphones sold well in Europe and Asia Pacific during the third quarter, and fueled a 45% annual rise in total smartphone shipments to 251.4 million units.
Shipments of Android devices grew from 129.6 million units in 3Q12 to 204.4 million in the recent quarter, and Microsoft from 3.7 million to 10.2 million. Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics, says 3Q13 Windows Phone shipments are a quarterly record for Microsoft, but notes the growth is “almost entirely due to Nokia and its steadily improving Lumia portfolio,” in Europe, Asia Pacific and the US.
Apple lost share during 3Q13 despite growing its shipments year on year (see fig.1). Scott Bicheno, senior analyst at the research firm, says Apple’s loss is due to its “limited presence in the lower end of the smartphone market,” and notes that Android “will need to take further shipments from Apple if it wants to keep growing in future.”
Fig 1: Global Smartphone OS Shipments and Market Share in Q3 2013 1
Global Smartphone Operating System Shipments (Millions of Units) | Q3 '12 | Q3 '13 | |
Android | 129.6 | 204.4 | |
Apple | 26.9 | 33.8 | |
Microsoft | 3.7 | 10.2 | |
BlackBerry | 7.4 | 2.5 | |
Others | 5.2 | 0.5 | |
Total | 172.8 | 251.4 | |
Global Smartphone Operating System Market share % | Q3 '12 | Q3 '13 | |
Android | 75.0% | 81.3% | |
Apple | 15.6% | 13.4% | |
Microsoft | 2.1% | 4.1% | |
BlackBerry | 4.3% | 1.0% | |
Others | 3.0% | 0.2% | |
Total | 100.0% | 100.0% | |
Total Growth Year-over-Year % | 44.0% | 45.5% | |
1 Numbers are rounded.
Source: Strategy Analytics