Gartner: Windows Phone's market share in Q3 was just 1.7%

Market research firm Gartner has released its latest report on quarterly smartphone market share, revealing a major drop in Windows Phone's share - from 3% in Q3 2014 to 1.7% in Q3 this year.

In terms of number of units, the Redmond, Washington-based company shipped 5.87 million units in the third quarter this year, down from 9.033 million units it shipped in Q3 last year.

It's worth mentioning that Microsoft - in its earnings report for Q3 2015 - revealed that it shipped 5.8 million Lumia phones in the quarter, effectively suggesting that only 70,000 Windows Phone units were shipped by other OEMs in that period.

"Despite the announcement of Windows 10, we expect Windows smartphone market share will continue to be a small portion of the overall smartphone OS market as consumers remain attracted by competing ecosystems," said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner. "Microsoft smartphones will mainly focus on driving value for enterprise users."

As for smartphone manufacturers, while Samsung and Apple retained the first two spots in the quarter, China's Huawei - which came in at number three - recorded the highest growth in mobile phone and smartphone sales in Q3, with market share increasing from 5.2% last year to 7.7% this year.

Source | Via