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Windows Phone has had a pretty difficult year, from lack of flagship devices to lower commitment from Microsoft to very strong competition from Android and iOS. But despite these hurdles the mobile OS managed to outpace the growth of Android in major European economies.

Looking at the latest data from Kantar Worldpanel, we can see that Microsoft’s strategy of focusing on the low-end of the market had indeed started to pay off in terms of sales. Windows Phone managed to outpace the rate of growth of Android, which actually lost market share almost across the board.

The sales data on which this report is based, represents figures for the first quarter of this year and compares that to the same period from last year. The biggest gain for Microsoft came in France, where its mobile operating system gained almost 6% market share and now accounts for 14% of smartphones sold in the country.

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Germany comes in second with 8.7% of the market after a 2.1% year over year increase, while across the big EU5 countries (France, Germany, Italy, UK, Spain) Windows Phone managed to gain 1.8% market share compared to last year. That’s equal to Apple’s gains over the same period, with both companies trumping Android, which lost just over 3 percent.

Finally the US market has seemingly stagnated with all players holding their ground. Windows Phone barely accounts for more than 4% while iOS is still at 36% and Android tops the charts at 58%.

Of course, despite these semi-positive results, Microsoft still has a lot of work to be done. The community is looking forward to all the new features coming with Windows 10 as well as new hardware, both high-end flagships and low-end affordable devices.

Source: Kantar