Microsoft Windows Phone Manages To Lose Even More Share In The Global Smartphone Market

Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone managed to lose more share in the global market for smart phones as Android and iOS devices to devour the market.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Android devices saw their combined market share grow in the second quarter to 96.4 percent, as the rest of the competition hung on for dear life, according to a research study published by IDC on Thursday. Among them was the Redmond, Washington tech giant, which not only saw its market share drop to 2.5 percent compared to 3.4 percent in the same quarter last year, but also saw shipment volume decline by 9.4 percent to 7.4 million units.

While Microsoft continues to lag way behind Apple and Google, it looks to emerging markets to bolster its sales with mid and low-end devices. But with nearly 150 million low-end Android device shipments in the second quarter, Microsoft is fighting an uphill battle against Android device manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics Co. (KRX:005930) and Beijing’s Xiaomi.

Following its announcement the cutting of 18,000 jobs in July, Microsoft shifted its mobile device line to be focused solely on the development of the Windows Phone platform.

“At our core, Microsoft is the productivity and platform company for the mobile-first and cloud-first world,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in July. “We will reinvent productivity to empower every person and every organization on the planet to do more and achieve more.”