Windows Phone Usage Stats for June 2015 Finally Show a Flagship in Testing

We’ve waited and whined. We’ve fretted over the possibility that Microsoft might actually kill off its Windows Phone and Lumia efforts. But this month’s usage statistics from AdDuplex show that Microsoft, finally, is testing a true Windows 10 Mobile flagship. And while it may be some months before it arrives, that is certainly cause for celebration.

As you may remember, AdDuplex bills itself as the largest cross-promotion network for Windows Phone and Windows 8 apps, empowering developers and publishers to promote their apps for free by helping each other. And each month it provides a tantalizing glimpse at which Windows Phone (and Windows) devices people are actually using.

Here’s what they see this month. Let’s start with the fun stuff: the new devices.

New flagship on the way. AdDuplex has spotted two unreleased new handsets in the usage stats, and one is a monster with a 2560 x 1440 (Quad HD) unit that is clearly a new Lumia flagship. Windows Central reports that this is the rumored “CityMan” handset, which will feature a 5.7-inch display, a Qualcomm-based 8-core processor, 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage with microSD expansion and a 20 MP rear camera like that in the Lumia 1520, Icon and 930. But the other handset AdDuplex has seen is interesting, too: This one comes in two variants and has a 5.2-inch 1080p screen. So cross your fingers.

Same basic global trends as before. AdDuplex notes that in June, they see the same basic trends they’d seen in the past: low-end phones are the most popular, and newer low-end devices like the Lumia 535 are still growing while the record-holding 520 continues declining. The top 10 is basically unchanged, with the Lumia 520 (19.3 percent usage share), 630 (9.8), 535 (7.7), 635 (7.1) and 530 (6.1) making up the top five.

Microsoft/Nokia constitutes 96.74 percent of all Windows Phone handsets in use. In other words, that market for third party devices has never seriously emerged. BLU is the biggest of the small hardware partners (beyond HTC, Samsung and Huawei), but they just have tiny share: whatever 34 percent of 0.42 percent is.

Windows Phone 8.1 continues to rule, with 76.7 percent usage, compared to 13.6 percent for Windows Phone 8.0, 7.1 percent for Windows Phone 7.x, and a surprisingly strong 2.5 percent for Windows 10 Mobile, which is available through the Windows Insider program.

Well it’s popular in Europe. We keep hearing about how popular Windows Phone is in Europe compared to the rest of the world. But how popular are individual handsets, and how does the mix vary from the US and the rest of the world? The top five in the EU5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Great Britain) are actually just as low-end as what we see elsewhere (Lumia 520, 630, 635, 625, 530), and the only flagships in the list are the 930 and 920, which are numbers 8 and 9, respectively. Maybe Europeans are just less image conscious than US buyers.