The global smartphone market is by no means in bad shape, during the first quarter of the year sales increased 3.9 percent alone. However, to the non surprise of many, Microsoft was not apart of that increase, in fact, they fell below 1 percent in the first quarter of this year.
The Windows Phone platform was already facing hard times last year, struggling with a modest 2.5 percent share of the smartphone OS market. You may be surprised to hear Apple had a rough quarter as well, with iPhone sales down 14 percent, even still they came in second within the top five leaders in the smartphone market. Samsung had 23.2 percent market share, Apple had 14.8 percent, Huawei reported 8.3 percent, Oppo 4.6 percent and finally Xiaomi with 4.3 percent. Lenovo no longer made it into the top five contributors. Three of these brands are Chinese, grabbing a combined 17 percent of the market.
Last week Microsoft announced plans to sell it’s phone business to a newly formed Finnish firm, HMD, for $350 million. Why buy such a business when it is already tanking? The Finnish firm plans to create Nokia-branded smartphones and tablets for decades to come, which considering the way the market is turning, appears to be the right move. Overall global smartphone sales totaled 349 million units in the first quarter. The 13 million increase comes from the demand for lower cost smartphones. Emerging brands are stirring the pot, leading larger vendors to experience growth saturation in the global smartphone market. Chinese brands are proving themselves to be the new force in the market.
If you would like to educate yourself in more detail about the information presented in this blog post please visit: Windows Phone Is Basically Dead, Gartner Says
