Windows Phone sees its UK market share halve in 12 months

MICROSOFT'S WINDOWS PHONE operating system has seen its UK market share more than halve over the past 12 months, according to new data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

The firm's latest numbers show that Windows Phone accounted for 5.1 per cent of the market in May, down from 10.5 per cent this time last year. 

Kantar didn't have much else to say on the matter, but the UK remains one of Microsoft's biggest markets despite its tumbling market share. The operating system accounts for 1.6 per cent of the US market, down from 3.5 per cent, and just 0.1 per cent of smartphone users in Japan have a Windows Phone device.

Microsoft's struggles in the mobile market have been well documented over the past year. Just this week, for example, Angry Birds developer Rovio cancelled its Windows Phone plans in order to focus on iOS and Android.

The two operating systems account for almost 95 per cent of the UK smartphone market, so the decision is not all that surprising. 

Apple bagged 36 per cent of smartphone sales in the UK in May, an incremental climb of 0.3 per cent year on year which Kantar credited to strong sales of the iPhone SE.

Android continues to lead the pack with 58.6 per cent, a bump of 5.8 per cent compared with this time last year. This doesn't sound like something to sniff at, but Kantar pointed out that "in Great Britain, Android has its lowest sales share at 58.6 per cent vs. 75 per cent or more elsewhere in Europe".

The firm delved deeper into Google's operating system to reveal that Samsung continues to lead the charge, no doubt thanks to strong sales of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge which the firm recently revealed has pushed its profits to a two-year high. 

In fact, the Galaxy S7 is proving so popular that is has outsold the iPhone 6S in the US, Kantar revealed. The handset enjoyed 11.1 per cent of sales in May, while Apple's iPhone 6S captured around 10 per cent. µ

Source: Windows Phone sees its UK market share halve in 12 months