Windows Phone saw phenomenal year-on-year growth in the 3rd quarter of this year up 165% from last year’s 3rd quarter with Nokia devices accounting for 95% of Windwos Phone devices shipped, according to market analysts are ABI Research.
The firm estimates that over 244 million smartphones were shipped during the the period with Samsung making up 35% of the volume (approximately 85.4 million units), while Apple’s market share remained flat at 14%. Despite strong sales of the new iPhones in late Q3 2013, prospects of growth at Apple is low. Analysts are expecting the company to achieve 18.7% market share in Q4 2014 down from the 22.6% it achieved in the same quarter last year.
“Even with a record Q4 for the iPhone, Apple is only expected to achieve 18.7% market share which is down from the 22.6% Apple achieved in Q4 2012, due to Android’s growing dominance and the importance of emerging markets,” said ABI Research’s senior practice director, Nick Spencer.
Once again, Android is the dominant mobile operating system accounting for some 81% of devices shipped worldwide in the last three months with manufacturers like Huawei, Lenovo and Xiaomi in addition to Samsung enjoying strong growth.
Meanwhile things are looking very grim at BlackBerry. Despite a series of device launches and the mass adoption of its cross-platform BBM service, the company’s device shipments barely make up 2% of total devices shipped in the last three months. According to ABI Research the chances of BlackBerry making a comeback in the 4th quarter are slim due to the high adoption of Windows Phone.
“The race for the third ecosystem is clearly favoring Windows Phone with 4% market share, over BlackBerry’s 1.5%, but there remains little opportunity for new market entrants to make a significant impact on Android’s dominance,” comments senior analyst, Michael Morgan.
