Android overtakes Windows as world's top OS

Android has for the first time overtaken Windows as the world’s most popular operating system in terms of total internet usage, according to statistics from StatCounter.

The web analytics company announced that Android now has an operating system market share of 37.93% across all platforms — desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile — combined in March.

Android just edged out Windows, which had an internet browsing market share of 38.91%. But the platform’s share has been steadily declining since at least March 2012, when it had a market share of over 80%.

“This is a milestone in technology history and the end of an era. It marks the end of Microsoft’s leadership worldwide of the OS market, which it has held since the 1980s. It also represents a major breakthrough for Android, which held just 2.4% of global internet usage share only five years ago,” StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen commented.

“Windows won the desktop war but the battlefield moved on. It will be difficult for Microsoft to make inroads in mobile but the next paradigm shift might give it the opportunity to regain dominance. That could be in augmented reality, AI, voice or continuum (a product that aims to replace a desktop and smartphone with a single Microsoft powered phone).”

Market share for Apple’s platforms has been far more stagnant by comparison over the past five years. As of March, iOS had a market share of 13.90% while OS X had a share of 5.17%. Linux meanwhile captured just 0.75% of the market.

In more bad news for Microsoft, data recently released by Net Applications indicates that Windows 7 still has a 54% user share among all Windows machines and a 49% user share among all personal computers, close to two years after the July 2015 launch of Windows 10.

Windows 7’s user share among all personal computers has declined just 2.5 percentage points over the past 12 months, the figures indicate. This is despite Windows 10’s user share growing by over 11 percentage points to 25% of all PCs and 28% among Windows PCs.

Experts have attributed Windows 7’s longevity to longer upgrade cycles and the ongoing substitution of mobile devices for personal computers.

Image courtesy of cloud2013 under CC