Windows Phone market share to double by 2018, says IDC

[Himanshu Arora]

The market share of Windows Phone will double in the next three years, according to the latest report from the market research firm IDC. While shipments of devices running Microsoft's mobile OS will hit the 35 million mark this year, accounting for just 2.7 percent of the market, that figure will jump to 5.6 percent in 2018, when the Redmond-based company is expected to ship around 105 million Windows Phone devices.

Worldwide Smartphone Forecast by Shipments and Value, 2014 and 2018

Shipments in millions of units and Value in US$ Million

	2014	2014 Market Share	2018	2018 Market Share	2014-2018 CAGR
Shipments
Android	1,060	82.3%	1,498	80.0%	9.0%
iOS	178	13.8%	240	12.8%	7.8%
Windows Phone	35	2.7%	105	5.6%	31.4%
Other OS	14	1.1%	30	1.6%	20.4%
Total	1,288	100.0%	1,873	100.0%	9.8%
Value
Android	255,102	66.6%	275,248	60.9%	1.9%
iOS	116,540	30.4%	152,626	33.8%	7.0%
Windows Phone	7,782	2.0%	19,033	4.2%	25.1%
Other OS	3,480	0.9%	4,862	1.1%	8.7%
Total	382,904	100.0%	451,769	100.0%	4.2%

Meanwhile, Android will continue to dominate shipments in 2018 with 80 percent market share, a slight decline from 82.3 percent in 2014, while iOS will control only 13 percent of volume, compared to 13.8 percent this year. As for the revenue, Apple's mobile OS will have 34 percent of all smartphone revenues, compared to 61 percent for Google's mobile OS. 

"Apple's approach with premium pricing ensures a growing portion of overall revenues despite its declining market share," said Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC's Mobile Phones team. "Meanwhile, Android's multi-faceted approach – with forked versions and low-cost Android One strategy – will produce mixed results, yet it allows deeper penetration into emerging markets."

Worldwide smartphone shipments will reach a total of nearly 1.3 billion units this year, a 26.3 percent increase year-over-year. Looking ahead, the research firm expects 1.4 billion smartphones to be shipped worldwide in 2015, representing a 12.2 percent year-over-year growth rate. The slower annual growth is expected to continue throughout the forecast with unit shipments approaching 1.9 billion units in 2018.

Smartphone prices are also expected to come down in the coming years -- the report notes that average selling price will drop to $241 by 2018, compared to $297 this year.

"The impact of upstart Chinese players in the global market will be reflected in a race to the bottom when it comes to price," said Melissa Chau, Senior Research Manager with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. "The biggest question now is how much lower can prices go?"

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https://www.techspot.com/news/59031-windows-phone-market-share-double-2018-idc.html

 

[RustyTech]

LOL
going from 2.7% to 5.6%...and it's going to take them 3 years! lololol

I was one of those that actually made the plunge and got a Lumina 525 a bit over a year ago. A few days later I was happy to pay the $35 restocking fee to get rid of it and get a Samsung Galaxy 4 (which I replaced with a Note 4 about 3 weeks ago).

btw, I'm very happy with the Note 4.

I think I went on a Samsung advertising spree.... lol

 

[misor]

If only microsoft would bring its promo with at&t (lumia 635 at 39$) to the Philippines.

 

[Frank Barnett]

LOL
going from 2.7% to 5.6%...and it's going to take them 3 years! lololol

I was one of those that actually made the plunge and got a Lumina 525 a bit over a year ago. A few days later I was happy to pay the $35 restocking fee to get rid of it and get a Samsung Galaxy 4 (which I replaced with a Note 4 about 3 weeks ago).

btw, I'm very happy with the Note 4.

its ok to say lol they don't have to do anything they make billions of royalties on android so for them it makes no difference on how fast they grow

 

[Chazz]

LOL
going from 2.7% to 5.6%...and it's going to take them 3 years! lololol

I was one of those that actually made the plunge and got a Lumina 525 a bit over a year ago. A few days later I was happy to pay the $35 restocking fee to get rid of it and get a Samsung Galaxy 4 (which I replaced with a Note 4 about 3 weeks ago).

btw, I'm very happy with the Note 4.

I think I went on a Samsung advertising spree.... lol

You're comparing a lumia 525 to a S4 and then a note 3?

In other news, I replaced my AMD R7 260x with a Nvidia GTX 980 and I must say Nvidia provides by far the better experience. AMD is doooooomed, they just can't keep up.

 

[RustyTech]

Chazz, yes I'm comparing the lumina windows phone and samsung android phone (the Note 4 was just a side note - no pun intended LOL).

I don't think it would be accurate to correlate our comparisons since I'm really talking about usability/features, while the video cards are more of a performance oriented?

I found that the WP was so closed, that I couldn't do what I wanted to do; and by far the biggest turn-off was the fact that I could not use the outlook on my computer with the phone (that's just 1 example) - this is something I was able to do with my very old windows phone.
So thanks MS, but no thanks.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

If they offered a high end windows phone unlocked, like the 1520, id grab one. only the low end ones are avaliable unlocked, as the high end ones are verizon or at&t only....

 

[Chazz]

Chazz, yes I'm comparing the lumina windows phone and samsung android phone (the Note 4 was just a side note - no pun intended LOL).

I don't think it would be accurate to correlate our comparisons since I'm really talking about usability/features, while the video cards are more of a performance oriented?

I found that the WP was so closed, that I couldn't do what I wanted to do; and by far the biggest turn-off was the fact that I could not use the outlook on my computer with the phone (that's just 1 example) - this is something I was able to do with my very old windows phone.
So thanks MS, but no thanks.

except you went for upgrades with increasingly larger screens and horsepower under the hood. Do you not think that maybe you wanted something different in a phone? You're just not gonna get the same experience when comparing items that are made of items/tech with massively different quality. Your one example here is nice, as it kinda tells something.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but looking at your comment from face value told nothing other than you comparing flagship phones to cheap phones.

 

[yRaz]

Chazz, yes I'm comparing the lumina windows phone and samsung android phone (the Note 4 was just a side note - no pun intended LOL).

I don't think it would be accurate to correlate our comparisons since I'm really talking about usability/features, while the video cards are more of a performance oriented?

I found that the WP was so closed, that I couldn't do what I wanted to do; and by far the biggest turn-off was the fact that I could not use the outlook on my computer with the phone (that's just 1 example) - this is something I was able to do with my very old windows phone.
So thanks MS, but no thanks.

except you went for upgrades with increasingly larger screens and horsepower under the hood. Do you not think that maybe you wanted something different in a phone? You're just not gonna get the same experience when comparing items that are made of items/tech with massively different quality. Your one example here is nice, as it kinda tells something.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but looking at your comment from face value told nothing other than you comparing flagship phones to cheap phones.

As someone who has low end and high end windows phones, there are apps that you cannot install on low end phones due to hardware limitations.

However, all I do is make calls and browse the web on my phone so I have no need for apps. If not having access to the latest facebook games bothers you, windows phone is not for you(speaking in general). However, if you want a stable phone that makes calls with excellent battery life windows phone is an excellent choice. Resource management is so good in windows phone I can often go 3-4 days on a single charge with my 1520. My dads 635 very close. Slower in launching apps but similar battery life.

I just feel there is too much compromise in android for features that I, and many others, will never use.

 

[The Big Cheese]

Was this supposed to be satire? Do a Google search and you'll find a few years ago, IDC predicted 19% market share for Windows Phone (then it was called Windows Mobile) and the next year 11% and so on until they are now predicting under 6%. Every year they predict lower and lower shares without explaining how they were so far off with previous predictions.

What is amazing is that companies pay toms of money for these predictions.