The biggest loser - unsurprisingly - was Microsoft, as its Windows phone sales continued to plummet. Global sales of Windows handsets have been falling for months, even as optimistic reports portray Microsoft as 'retrenching' in the smartphone market, temporarily scaling back its mobile efforts to prepare for a new class of handset, starting with its much-rumored 'Surface phone'. But as its OS continues to lose mobile market share - and its hardware partners continue to raise concerns about the state of the platform - Microsoft runs the risk of losing mindshare among potential buyers for its future devices, which may not arrive until 2018.