The “Others” category has just 0.1% market share and groups all other mobile operating systems, including Windows

Feb 22, 2018 12:21 GMT  ·  By

We’ve known for a while that Windows phones have no future, but diehard fans get new confirmations on a regular basis. And today, it’s Gartner’s turn to tell us that the world is all about iPhones and Android phones these days.

New statistics provided by the market research firm shows that Android and iOS obviously dominated sales of new smartphones last year, with a separate section called “Other OS” accounting for only 0.1 percent of all shipments.

Windows 10 Mobile not only that doesn’t show up in the charts, but it’s actually part of the Others group, together with operating systems like BlackBerry OS and Symbian. The entire category sold only 1.49 million devices last year, down from 11.3 million units the year before.

Android, the number one platform

For comparison, Android, which is the leading choice worldwide, sold no more, no less than 1.32 billion smartphones in 2017, an increase from 1.26 billion units in 2016. This means Google’s operating system now has a share of 85.9%, up from 84.8%.

Apple’s iOS, on the other hand, is the runner-up with 214 million sold phones, down from 216 million phones the year before. Apple also recorded a decline from 14.4% share to 14%.

“The competition in the smartphone market is unabated at this time of the year. Ahead of MWC, several phone manufacturers such as Samsung, HMD (Nokia), Asus and LG have announced that they will launch new Android smartphones,” Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner, said.

As for what’s next for Windows phones, the community hopes that Microsoft would finally launch the eagerly-awaited Surface Phone, though there’s a good chance that even if this product actually sees daylight, it’s not powered by Windows 10 Mobile. Microsoft is currently investing big in Windows 10 for ARM, and the future of the company’s mobile device is likely to be all about this platform, again if the software giant still sees a reason to remain part of this industry.

Sales of top mobile platforms last year

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Windows 10 Mobile is dead
Sales of top mobile platforms last year
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