Windows Phone Stats: October 2014

Every month, I highlight AdDuplex's Windows Phone usage statistics, and this month we see an interesting and long-awaited milestone: Usage of Windows Phone 8.1 has surpassed that of Windows Phone 8. And, also expected, the desirable and inexpensive Lumia 63x handsets are racing up the charts around the world.

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's happening with Windows Phone usage this month.

Lumia 520 is still number one but dropping. With about 27 percent of all usage—31.3 if you include the 521, which you should—the Lumia 520 is still the most frequently used Windows Phone handset on earth, and by a wide margin. (Number two Lumia 625 is 7.2 percent.) But usage in the 18-month-old phone is dropping each month now, and it dropped 3.7 percentage points this month. (In the US, the 520/521 are number one with 39.3 percent of the market, but that's down 6.9 percentage points too.)

Lumia 630/635 is rising fast. My choice for the best low-end Windows Phone is rising just as the Lumia 520 is sinking, which makes sense. The Lumia 630 comes in third this month with 6.4 percent of overall usage. But in the United States, you can really see the impact of the 630/635: These devices are number 3 and number 6, respectively, and combine for about 16 percent of the market, good for second place already.

Three of the top five phones are, well, old. It's odd to me that three of top five phones—the Lumia 625, 920 and 710—are old. And two of them—the 625 and 710—were never anything special.

Nokia is 95 percent of all Windows Phones in use. Well, 94.99 percent. But still.

Windows Phone 8.1 is the most common OS version with 46.7 percent of usage, compared to 36.8 for Windows Phone 8 and 16.9 percent for Windows Phone 7.x.

Interesting stuff as always.