According to new data from web traffic analytics firm StatCounter, Google’s Android is the most popular operating system worldwide, beating out Microsoft’s Windows for the first time.
Android is now the top OS in terms of total internet usage across desktop, laptop, tablet, and mobile combined, according to StatCounter with 37.93 percent of the worldwide OS market, just ahead of Windows, which has 37.91 percent.
In a statement, StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen called this a “milestone in technology history.”
“It marks the end of Microsoft’s leadership worldwide of the OS market, which it has held since the 1980s,” he said. “It also represents a major breakthrough for Android, which held just 2.4 percent of global internet usage share only five years ago.”
Breaking it down by region, Windows maintained a lead across North America with a 39.5 percent share of the worldwide OS market in March. In Europe, Windows has more than twice Android’s share: 51.7 percent versus 23.6 percent. Android won out big in Asia, though, grabbing 52.2 percent compared to 29.2 percent for Windows.
