Windows Phone 8.1, the latest version of Microsoft’s mobile operating system has finally reached a 50% market share among the handsets using the company’s platform, TechCrunch reports. According to the report, the previous version of the mobile OS is still running on 33.5% of the Microsoft-powered phones of the world, while Windows Phone 7 still runs on 15.7% of Windows Phone handsets out there. The proportion of phones using the previous version of the WP OS will slowly decline in the near future, as carriers gradually roll out the update to the latest version.
The chart published by TechCrunch – originally from a preview of the November AdDuplex Windows Phone Statistics Report for November 2014 – shows an interesting situation on the Windows Phone market. According to the chart, almost 95% of all Windows Phone running handsets were delivered by Microsoft, sold under the Nokia brand, while the remaining 5% is divided in various proportions among handset manufacturers like HTC (3.11%), Samsung (1.14%), Huawei (0.62%) and others. From here Microsoft can only go down when it comes to market share, and that is actually what the company wants – to control less of the market, but sell more phones through OEMs. The Redmond giant is working on expanding its OEM uptake on Windows – in September it has announced that 14 new manufacturers have joined in on Windows Phone, launching 14 new handsets since this February.
With its effort to increase its market share on the Asian market – by launching new, affordable handsets running Windows Phone there – Microsoft will also try to grab a piece of the pie currently that is currently occupied by cheap Android handsets manufactured by local companies. The Microsoft Lumia 535 handset is the first in line – also the first Lumia phone launched without the Nokia brand – but more will surely follow.
When it comes to market share among all mobile operating systems, Microsoft’s Windows Phone is the third largest with 2.5% in Q2/2014. The majority of the handsets run either Android (almost 85%) and iOS (11.7%).