14 DAY TRIAL // Gartner has just released a new set of figures for the smartphone market in the second quarter of 2015, revealing another drop for Windows Phone as compared to the same period the year before.
Basically, Windows Phone now has a market share of 2.5 percent, down from 2.8 percent in the second quarter of 2014, with only 8.1 million new devices running Microsoft's mobile operating system.
Gartner says Android continues to be the leading mobile platform worldwide with a share of 82.2 percent, down from 83.8 percent the year before, while iOS comes second with 14.6 percent, an increase from 12.2 percent.
Microsoft struggled in the low-end market
One of the reasons that caused Microsoft's somehow poor sales performance in the last 12 months is the lack of flagship devices, with many people criticizing the company for focusing too much on low-end devices.
In most cases, affordable phones are used for gaining share, but in Microsoft's case, the low-end lineup failed to make any difference. Gartner says the company had a hard time selling phones even in this particular side of the market and this is one of the reasons Microsoft is still losing market share.
“In light of Microsoft's recent cuts in its mobile hardware business, we'll await signs of its long-term commitment in the smartphone market,” Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner, said.
“The low barrier to entry into the Android segment will continue to encourage an array of new players, adding to further disruptions coming from Chinese manufacturing and innovative Internet players with new business models that are not reliant on hardware margins.”
Everyone expects Windows 10 Mobile to make a big difference in terms of sales, with flagship devices running the new operating system expected to debut in just a couple of months. This way, Microsoft should revamp its mobile strategy completely, but it remains to be seen if this new approach can pay off in the long term.