Microsoft Mobile Share Reaches Lowest Level Since comScore Tracking Began

While Android continues its march as the dominant global operating system, its market share in the US is essentially flat and roughly at the same place it was in 2012. Apple has gained and Microsoft has declined during the same period, according to comScore smartphone market share data.

In June 2015, Android had a 51.6 percent share of the US smartphone market. Though the number has fluctuated somewhat over time, it’s now identical to where it was in June 2012.

The iPhone, by comparison, has gained roughly 12 points of market share during the same three-year period, according to comScore data. This has come at the expense of the other operating systems — BlackBerry, Microsoft and Nokia/Symbian.

In particular, Microsoft has seen its smartphone share decline slowly but steadily during the same time frame. Windows Phones had been holding at about 3.4 percent over the past several quarters but declined to 2.9 percent in this most recent comScore report. This is the lowest share percentage reported for Microsoft’s mobile OS since comScore began reporting the data.

Microsoft has said it’s not giving up on Windows Phones — the company is committed to having Windows on mobile devices — but its $7.6 billion write-off of the Nokia deal and the shift in software focus to Android and iOS indicates a backing away from its own mobile OS.

Regardless of Microsoft’s expressed attitudes or official position, the US consumer public has not embraced Windows Phones. Reports from several third-party sources (e.g., StatCounter) show Windows Phone generating less than 2 percent of mobile internet traffic.

The tables above reflect comScore’s top 15 mobile apps, measured in terms of audience reach. I’ve compared last year and this year side-by-side. While there’s limited movement for many of the apps, Facebook Messenger has ascended from position 10 in 2014 to position 3 on the June 2015 list.

Yahoo Weather and Google+, present last year, have been replaced by Snapchat and Amazon.