Android is the top web-browsing OS for the first time in history

Remember when the Internet was only accessible from a personal computer? This has not been the case for a long, long time, but most of the browsing was still done through Windows-based devices. Up until last month, that is.

According to data from the research company StatCounter, Android has just overtaken Windows, when it comes to browsing the web. In March, Android generated 39.93% of all web traffic, while Windows accounted for 37.91%. This marks the first time Windows has been dethroned as the lead OS for accessing the Internet.

This trend has been going for quite a while, but back in 2012, the stats painted a completely different picture. Back then, Android generated merely 2.2% of all web traffic.

“This is a milestone in technology history and the end of an era,” said Aodhan Cullen, StatCounter CEO. “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.”

The graph below clearly illustrates the trend started back in 2012. What must be kept in mind is that it covers all platforms (desktop, tablets, smartphones and laptops). Windows still holds 84% of the desktop web traffic, and that doesn't look like it's going to change any time soon.


However, the market has vastly evolved in the past decade and StatCounter made sure to illustrate it with this.

“Windows won the desktop war but the battlefield moved on,” said Cullen.

via BusinessInsider