Android is now the most popular operating system in the world
Hey, Microsoft: it's time to step down from the internet throne and hand the crown over to Android.
The latest internet usage data from StatCounter, an independent web analytics firm, found that Android overtook Microsoft Windows for the world's largest share of internet usage by operating system last month. It was the first time—ever—that Microsoft wasn't in the top spot, signaling the ever-increasing shift in global internet consumption habits from desktop PCs to mobile.
"This is a milestone in technology history and the end of an era," StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen said in a statement. Windows has been the most common OS online since the dawn of time, aka the 1980s.
StatCounter based its report on data from 2.5 million websites around the world, which it says typically generate over 15 billion pageviews per month.
This wasn't a huge shift, as unprecedented as it may have been. Android internet usage only edged out Windows by only .02 percent, coming in at 37.93 percent of the total market to Windows' 37.91 percent.
What's more remarkable is the rapid year-over-year growth of Android usage, especially in light of Windows' free-fall from dominance.
Much of Android's growth stems directly from inroads the OS has made in the developing world, where it, and mobile devices in general, are the dominant means to get online. Meanwhile, global PC sales, where Microsoft's Windows OS maintains a huge advantage over all comers, have dropped every year since 2012.
Worldwide, Microsoft still holds strong as the dominant internet OS, holding strong to North America, Russia, and much of Europe. In North America, Android wasn't even the runner up -- StatCounter reports iOS held a nearly five percent advantage, 25.7 percent of users to Android's 21.2 percent.
Android holds the title for March 2017 -- and with internet access growing around the world, it very well could widen the gap going forward. Apple's increased focus on some of those markets might cut into Android's dominance, but until there's another major shift, Android could be the OS king for the foreseeable future.
Brett Williams is a Tech Reporter at Mashable. He writes about tech news, trends and other tangentially related topics with a particular interest in wearables and exercise tech. Prior to Mashable, he wrote for Inked Magazine and Thrillist. Brett's work has also appeared on Fusion and AskMen, to name a few. You can follow Brett on Twitter @bdwilliams910.
