New data shows Windows Phone is still below 3% threshold

Dec 26, 2015 08:13 GMT  ·  By

Windows Phone is often called “the platform with 3 percent market share,” and using this moniker is not at all a mistake. Statistics provided by research firm Nielsen, for example, indicate that Windows Phone was powering only 2.8 percent of the smartphones used by Americans in the third quarter.

Android topped the charts with a 52.6 percent market share in the United States, followed by iOS with 42.7 percent, so together, these two platforms accounted for no more, no less than 95.3 percent of the American smartphone business.

Fortunately, Windows Phone is not the last name in the charts despite the fact that it's far behind its rivals, as BlackBerry was installed on only 0.7 percent of the handsets in the country.

No new Windows 10 Mobile devices included

There are several things that should be taken into consideration here.

First of all, these figures are only for the third quarter of 2015, so they include only a period of three months between July and September.

This means that they only concern Windows Phone and devices running preview builds of Windows 10 Mobile, as at the end of September, the new version of Microsoft's operating system wasn't yet ready.

At the same time, they're also from the quarter preceding the one witnessing the debut of Lumia 950 and 950 XL. Microsoft launched its new flagships on October 6 and started sales in late October/early November (depending on the market), so figures including the new models should arrive when the fourth quarter comes to an end.

In other words, yes, Windows Phone is still below the 3 percent threshold, but this should all improve in the next quarter, when Lumia 950 and 950 XL both make their appearance in these stats. The new phones are the company's flagships running Windows 10 Mobile, and given the Americans' growing interest in high-end phones, they should significantly contribute to improved market share in this country.