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Microsoft flakes while Firefox shines at MWC

The latest stats from tech research firm Gartner make pretty exciting reading for Chinese handset makers, with Xiaomi and Huawei maintaining their places in the top 5 manufacturers globally in Q4, while ailing giant Microsoft is nowhere to be seen.

Microsoft used its time at Mobile World Congress to demo two Lumia handsets, the 640 and 640 XL, with promise of a flagship, high-end handset later this year showing off the new Windows 10 OS.

And new CEO Satya Nadella is certainly making an impact post-Ballmer, with the company now making it clear that they are willing to work more collaboratively with the likes of Apple and Google, but is this all too little, too late?

Super-affordable, yet well-functioning handsets are now a key battleground in mobile, particularly given Mark Zuckerberg’s appearance at MWC to reiterate his commitment, via Internet.org, to bringing the next billion online.

A new Firefox handset has been unveiled at the show, the Orange Klif, in collaboration with Alcatel and Orange. The companies are offering a six-month Orange data plan, along with the phone, all for just $40, significantly cheaper than rival handsets from the likes of Xiaomi.

Firefox plans to enter 13 new countries to offer this deal, continuing to focus on scooping up new smartphone users in emerging markets: Botswana, Cameroon, Egypt, the Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, Tunisia, and Vanuatu.

The company has also announced a host of new partnerships, with KDDI, LG U+, Spain’s Telefónica and Verizon Wireless, which will help it bring a range of oh-so-early-noughties flip and slider phones to these countries, but they haven’t yet been shown to the world.

Also in Gartner’s figures was news that Apple, who famously shun the summit in Barcelona, displaced Samsung at the end of the year to become the largest handset manufacturer globally.

Samsung’s new Galaxy range, with metal casing and equivalent specs, has clearly been pitched to win over those with more money to spend. But is Samsung looking in the wrong place for new smartphone users?

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