Microsoft lost its position as the second-largest mobile phone vendor in the world after it was surpassed by Apple and Huawei in the second-quarter. This conclusion is based on the latest data from Strategy Analytics. The statistics are based on the sales of both feature phones and smartphones.
Microsoft slips to fourth spot
Microsoft moved up to second place in second-quarter of 2014, and now it has come down to the fourth position in second-quarter of 2015. The Lumia series of devices have not performed very well globally. Microsoft Lumia devices did have a good fan following in India, but in the wider markets it could not gain much traction.
During the quarter, Apple shipped 47.5 million smartphones, representing a year over year growth of 35% in shipments of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus devices from the second-quarter of 2014. Apple has its control over almost 11% of the global mobile phone market. The most prominent reason for growth in Apple’s market share is the success of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus devices in China, which is the fastest growing smartphone market in the world due to its large population that can afford the expensive Apple devices.
Chinese vendors gaining
Samsung is still the market leader, but it lost a part of its global market share last quarter. The Korean firm witnessed a fall of 2.2 percentage points on a year-to-year basis, and accounted for 20.5% of global mobile phone shipments in the second-quarter.
Chinese vendors continue to grow their market share. The third position was bagged by Huawei with a 7% share of the global mobile phone. Mate 7, which is a 4G model from the Chinese firm, performed well in most regions. The fifth position was acquired by Xiaomi with a 4.6% market share. Xiaomi is slowing down in terms of growth. It experienced massive growth over the past year and a half, but now both local and international business is slowing down. Competition from rivals like Meizu and OnePlus is being cited as a primary reason for the fading growth of Xiaomi.
As of 11.17 am EDT Wednesday, Microsoft shares were trading down 1.68% at $46.47, and year to date the stock is down almost 1%.
