Unless you’ve spent the past two years under a rock, you are probably aware that Nokia is Redmond’s partner of choice for Windows Phone devices.

Samsung and HTC are also in the market, but a recent Localytics survey reveals some rather interesting figures. Samsung’s and HTC’s market share has taken a nosedive in 2012 and the same goes for smaller vendors.

Nokia started the year with a 22 percent share, behind HTC with 44 percent and Sammy with 23 percent. Smaller players accounted for 12 percent. However, just six months later Nokia managed to grow its share to 59 percent, while Samsung and HTC slipped to 13 and 21 percent respectively.

Granted, both Samsung and HTC managed to increase unit sales, but Nokia’s growth was much more significant, resulting in a 59 percent share. Nokia plans to announce its first Windows Phone 8 devices in the first week of September and other vendors are expected to follow up with their own Apollo gear. Sadly, the overall Windows Phone market share is still in the single digits, so controling 59 percent of the market is a bit like controlling 59 percent of San Marino. 

More here.