During the last quarter of 2015 (Q4 2015), Microsoft managed to sell only 4.5 Million Lumia smartphones. During this same period, the company saw its revenue drop by 49% from the same period the previous year. Back in Q4 2014, over 10.5 Million Lumia smartphones were sold and so the 4.5 million figure is a big drop.
From the figures above, you can clearly see that the sale of Lumia smartphones dropped by over 50% which is huge for any company. The market has not been very good for Windows phone for a while and this low sales number does not come as a surprise. The lack of flagship Lumia devices may have slowed down sales for the previous months but since we saw the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL come into the market during Q4 of 2015, we are confused as to how the sales were still low.
You can argue that the two flagship Lumia smartphones came into the market very late and they were not in a position to affect the overall figures that much and you may be right on that.
windows phone sales
With the latest figures, Microsoft controls just 1% of the smartphone market.
These latest Q4 figures take us back to 2012 (Q3 2012 to be exact) and this is not good since back then there were very few Windows Phone devices and that is why sales were low.
2016 may also prove to be a tough year for Microsoft as there are no major announcements expected. The only product we know is coming in 2016 is the Lumia 650 which will be unveiled early next month (February). There is no entry level device and this might make things harder for Lumia smartphones in most emerging markets such as Kenya.
We have also heard that Microsoft has plans to introduce surface smartphones this year but that is still a rumor at this point.
Read More: The Lumia 950 And Lumia 950XL to Be Launched in Kenya Next Month (February)