Released back in 2013, Nokia presented the Lumia 520 as an affordable way to bring as many people into the Windows Phone fold as possible. Fast forward three years and the Lumia 520 is still paying dividends for Microsoft, but that might not necessarily be a good thing, reports Windows Central.
According to January’s AdDuplex report, the Lumia 520 makes up 12.9 percent of all Windows Phones handsets worldwide, making it the most popular Windows Phone smartphone. Given how cheap the Lumia 520 was when it originally launched three years ago, and the fact that it’s possible to find the handset for around three Alexander Hamiltons (he’s on the ten-dollar bill), it’s not all that surprising to see the Lumia 520 still at the top of the sales chart in Windows Phone country.
At the same time, however, it shows how unsuccessful Microsoft has been at two key areas: recreating the success of the Lumia 520, which introduced decent hardware at an affordable price, and converting Lumia 520 owners into owners of newer Windows Phone handsets. The latter point is one that Microsoft still seems to be struggling with, as more recent devices like the Lumia 640 (6.3 percent), the Lumia 640 XL (3.3 percent), and the Lumia 435 (3.8 percent) still trail behind the Lumia 520.
Interestingly, these numbers shift significantly when just looking at the United States, where the Lumia 635 is the most popular Windows Phone handset and the Lumia 520 sits at only 3.5 percent.
Lumia devices overall, as a result of Nokia’s deal with Microsoft and Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s mobile phone business, make up a gargantuan 96.97 percent of the Windows phone market. HTC is a very distant second, commanding 1.27 percent, while Samsung sits in third with 0.59 percent.
Finally, in terms of the different Windows Phone versions, Windows 10 Mobile sits in second place with 9.5 percent ownership, and Windows Phone 8.1 still reigns supreme with 77.7 percent.
Overall, these numbers cast an interesting light on the Windows Phone ecosystem. It seems that Windows Phone has had good success in the budget segment of the market, which at this point is what seems like Microsoft’s target audience. However, to have a three-year-old device still at the top cannot be what Microsoft wants.
