Google's Android has overtaken Microsoft Windows for the first time as the most popular and widely used operating system in terms of total internet usage across desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile combined.
StatCounter has analyzed 2.5 million websites that it claims generate more than 15 billion monthly page views. Through them, it tracked the gradual converge of usage for the two operating systems over time. According to its report, Android is sitting at the peak on the worldwide OS internet usage market in March 2017 with 37.93 percent share. This is ahead of Windows which is at 37.91 percent.
"A milestone in technology history and the end of an era," said StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen. "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 percent of global internet usage share only five years ago."
While Android is becoming the most widely used OS for browsing the web, Windows remains the leading OS in Ireland. But the number has fallen to 36.3 percent, or down from 44 percent in the same month in 2016.
Android has risen to 28 percent from 22.5 percent. Apple's iOS is in third on 26 percent, up from 22 percent in March 2016.
According to Cullen, the main drivers of the breakthrough were the growth of smartphones to access the internet, and a decline in sales of traditional PCs and laptops, as well as the impact of Asia on the global market, especially in countries like India (79 percent), Indonesia (72 percent) and China (57 percent).
Furthermore, Android devices are more affordable and come with a variety of choices, making the operating system a more popular choice than its competitors like iOS that bundles with the more expensive iPhones.
What remains for Windows, is its continued reign on desktop operating system. The OS by Microsoft is still having a healthy 84 percent of internet usage on PCs and laptops as of March 2017.
