Windows Phone market share will grow two-fold in the next three years, according to a report from IDC. Total shipments of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MAFT) devices will hit 35 million mark this year, but constitutes only 2.7% of the total market, which is expected to rise 5.6% in 2018 or 105 million Windows Phone devices.
Apple, Google share to decline
Android will be the undisputed leader in 2018, garnering around 80% of the market share, a drop from 82.3% in 2014. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS will get 13% of the market share, compared to 13.8% this year. On the basis of revenue, Apple would account for 34% of the total, compared to 61% for Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s mobile operating system.
Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC’s Mobile Phones team said, “Apple’s approach with premium pricing ensures a growing portion of overall revenues despite its declining market share.” The report stated that Android’s cross platform approach with forked versions and low-cost Android One strategy will give mixed results allowing deeper penetration into emerging markets.
The report, further, noted that the smartphone shipment would be around 1.3 billion units this year, a 26.3% increase year over year. In 2015, shipment of around 1.4 billion is estimated across the globe, a year over year growth rate of 12.2%. Slow annual growth will continue resulting in 1.9 billion units in 2018.
ASP to come down
Prices of smartphone will decline in the future, and the report suggests that average selling price will tumble to $241 by 2018, compared to $297 in the current year. Melissa Chau, Senior Research Manager with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker said that the effect of the Chinese players will be seen in the market as the mobile brands will fight aggressively against resulting in lower prices.
Chau said that the significant question is that the level to which the Smartphone prices could fall. Smartphone companies are ready to lower down their prices in a bid to achieve increasing sales with the increase in saturation levels.
Meanwhile, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MAFT) is all set to launch three Lumia smartphones, which will address the low-end budget market. The phone will sport a 5-inch HD screen with a comparatively low resolution.
