The folks over at IDC are at it again, this time with a ‘forecast’ on how Windows Phone will fare by 2017. According to the IDC, Windows Phone will remain in third place behind Android and iOS, owning a 10.2% market share by the year 2017.
“Windows Phone will solidify its position as the number three O.S. with incremental share gains over the course of the forecast. With the acquisition of Nokia’s device and services unit, Microsoft will increasingly need to drive share gains by itself as OEM support for Windows Phone is expected to wane now that the company is set to become a full-fledged hardware maker. Microsoft will also need to ship more low-cost smartphones to high-growth emerging markets if it is to continue building on its recent nominal share increases,” IDC stated.
By 2017, Google’s Android platform will own 68.3% in market share, dropping from 75.3% in 2013. Apple’s iOS platform will go up to 17.9% in 2017, up from 16.9% this year. Windows Phone, however, will go up from 3.9% to 10.2% by 2017.
“The overall mobile phone market is growing faster than previously forecast thanks to a stronger-than-expected first half of the year driven by strong gains in emerging markets and the sub-$200 smartphone segment. IDC previously projected 5.8% growth for the year. Vendors are now forecast to ship more than 1.8 billion mobile phones this year, growing to over 2.3 billion mobile phones in 2017,” IDC adds.
IDC believes worldwide smartphone shipments will grow 40% year over year, totaling more than 1 billion units this year. Total smartphone shipments are to reach 1.7 billion units in 2017. This is thanks to higher shipment volumes from emerging markets, aggressive carrier subsidies of handsets, price drops, higher consumer awareness, and a vast variety of smartphone devices.
