AdDuplex, a cross-promotion network for Windows Phone apps, has released a new set of data detailing the worldwide sales of various Windows Phone 8 handsets.
According to that data, the Nokia Lumia 520 accounts for an enormous 27% of Windows Phone 8 handset sales and 18% of overall Windows Phone sales (taking into account Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 too). The next biggest seller, the Nokia Lumia 920 trails way behind with 17% of Windows Phone 8 sales and 11% of overall Windows Phone sales. But spare a thought for the poor Samsung Ativ S which accounts for just 2% of Windows Phone 8 sales. Note that the Nokia Lumia 1020 isn’t featured as it only recently went on sale.
The gist of the data is that the most and least powerful Windows Phones seem to be the most popular (with the 520 and 920 taking first and second place in sales respectively), leaving mid-range handsets trailing behind. However it’s clear that low end Windows Phone 8 devices are the most popular overall, as not only is the Nokia Lumia 520 the best seller by a significant margin, but the only-slightly-better Nokia Lumia 620 is the third best seller with 14% of Windows Phone 8 sales, while 57% of Windows Phone 8 handsets use just 512MB of RAM.
It’s perhaps no surprise that low end Windows Phone 8 smartphones are so popular. The OS isn’t particularly taxing, meaning that it can run smoothly even on basic hardware, so entry level handsets are a lot smoother to operate than most similarly priced Android ones- though saying that Windows Phone still only accounts for 3.3% of overall smartphone sales, with iOS taking in 14% and Android dwarfing the competition with 80% of overall sales.
The other thing to take away from the data is that Nokia make almost 65% of Windows Phone 8 devices and 86.9% of Windows Phone devices overall. Unsurprisingly Nokia also massively outsells the competition. The best selling non-Nokia Windows Phone 8 handset is the HTC 8X, which is the 6th best selling Windows Phone 8 handset and accounts for just 6% of sales. It fares even worse when you factor in Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 devices too, coming in 10th with just 4% of sales.
If Windows Phone were more popular overall Nokia would be in a great position, but even so they must be doing something right.
