14 DAY TRIAL // Even though Microsoft is committed to Windows Phone platform on long-term, the world's third operating system is struggling to reach two digits market share.
Last year around the same time Windows Phone market share was accounted for 2.8% globally, but since Q4 2014 things have been going rather bad for Microsoft's mobile division.
According to Gartner, Windows Phone global market share now sits at just 1.1%, a more-than-half drop from last year.
We reported back in August that Microsoft's Windows Phone market share is at 2.5% and hoped that it would improve in the coming months with the release of the new Windows 10 Mobile smartphones: Lumia 950, Lumia 950 XL and Lumia 550.
Unfortunately, Windows Phone global market share is spiraling down instead of going up, and the nearest future seems bleak for Microsoft's mobile platform.
Android is the absolute ruler; BlackBerry still in the cards
The other two mobile platforms, Android and iOS, are now accounting for 90% global market share, which is quite impressive. Android increased 16.6% in the fourth quarter of 2015 to reach 80.7% of the global total.
“Android benefited from continued demand for affordable smartphones and from the slowdown of iOS units in the premium market in the fourth quarter of 2015,” said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner.
On the other hands, iOS lost 2.7% market share since last year and now accounts for 17.7% global total. We've already mentioned Windows Phone now sits at 1.1% global market share. BlackBerry OS comes fourth with only 0.2% market share, down 0.3% from last year.
Since Microsoft has decided to launch fewer smartphones this year, its OEM partners are now tasked with the mission of increasing Windows Phone's market share in the coming months. It remains to be seen whether or not they will succeed.