As we’ve reported earlier, 2016 has been a pretty abysmal year for Windows phones’ market share. That share of the market has been steadily declining in the US and the 5 biggest EU countries. Market share in China did grow by 0.2%, but only to reach a share of 0.6%. These numbers come from Kantar, one of the more frequently cited sources of reports on mobile phone market share. But these reports leave out figures for a very big market, India.
Now another report gives more details on mobile phone operating systems’ market share in India. The report comes from Strategy Analytics, via Neowin. The report only breaks down the market by Android, Apple iOS, and an ‘Others’ category. But from the stark drop in Others, it can be inferred how much Windows Phone has plummeted in India.
The Others market share has gone from 5.5% in the second quarter of 2015, to 0.5% in the second quarter of 2016. Apple’s market share has also dropped, almost by half to just 2.4% of the market. Android has filled all of the space left by shrinking competitors and grown by a little over 7% to reach a market share of 97.1%.
These numbers should not be that surprising given Microsoft just reported a steep 71% decline in mobile revenue for the most recent quarter. But while they are not surprising at this point, these numbers are certainly disappointing. As recently as last summer Microsoft was said to be placing big bets in India on Windows phones. But much like elsewhere in the world, Microsoft’s mobile operating system is in India is falling at a faster and faster rate. Clearly, the big bets failed to pay off.
