This article is more than 1 year old

90 days of Android sales almost beat 9 months' worth for all flavours of Win 10

WinPho has 0.7% market share

Microsoft has trumpeted the fact that 300 million devices now run Windows 10, but the scale of its failure to extend its operating system dominance into mobile can be seen in the fact that of the 349 million smartphones sold in 2016's first quarter, 293.7m ran Android. And just 2.4m ran Windows Phone.

Those numbers come from Gartner's latest assessment of worldwide smartphone sales.

Two factoids stand out in this quarter's data. Firstly, Chinese manufacturers now fill spots three through five on Gartner's top five list. Huawei and Oppo are growing like weeds, although Xiaomi has flattened out worryingly.

Samsung's stable, no mean feat given Huawei's charge up the chart. Gartner reckons the Korean firm's place atop the table is partly derived from the successful launch of the Galaxy S7 and also the refresh of the lesser handsets it sells in the developing world. The S7's launch may also explain the first recorded double-digit sales drop for Apple, which was off by 14 per cent compared 2015's first quarter.

Here's the tale of the tape:

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 1Q16 (Thousands of Units)

Company

1Q16

Units

1Q16 Market Share (%)

1Q15

Units

1Q15 Market Share (%)

Samsung

81,186.9

23.2

81,122.8

24.1

Apple

51,629.5

14.8

60,177.2

17.9

Huawei

28,861.0

8.3

18,111.1

5.4

Oppo

16,112.6

4.6

6,585.1

2.0

Xiaomi

15,048.0

4.3

14,740.2

4.4

Others

156,413.4

44.8

155,561.4

46.3

Total

349,251.4

100.0

336,297.8

100.0

Source: Gartner (May 2016)

On the OS share front, the news is dismal for Microsoft, down from 2.5 per cent share of handsets sold to just 0.7 per cent.

Again, the tale of the tape.

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 1Q16 (Thousands of Units)

Operating System

1Q16

Units

1Q16 Market Share (%)

1Q15

Units

1Q15 Market Share (%)

Android

293,771.2

84.1

264,941.9

78.8

iOS

51,629.5

14.8

60,177.2

17.9

Windows

2,399.7

0.7

8,270.8

2.5

Blackberry

659.9

0.2

1,325.4

0.4

Others

791.1

0.2

1,582.5

0.5

Total

349,251.4

100.0

336,297.8

100.0

Source: Gartner (May2016)

Not all is lost for Microsoft's, because we know that PCs still ship at a rate of 230m units a quarter and the majority of those run Windows. Yet more Android devices now sell each quarter than Windows devices. Microsoft can hope those buyers acquire Office, but even those who do will already have a bevy of Google apps on their screens long before they consider Redmond's wares. ®

More about

More about

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like