Windows 10, the most popular desktop operating system. Windows 11 is fast catching up

Windows 11 saw low adoption initially, but Microsoft’s newest operating system seems to be starting to gain a little ground lately. Only one in six computers are running Windows 11 at present, with Windows 10 still the most popular version on the market. From now on, however, 11 will continue to rise and 10 will fall, as new computers shipped with the OS pre-installed will automatically use the new version.

Windows 11 already climbing to second place after just one year on the market

According to Statcounter, as of October, 15.44% of computers accessing the Internet are running Windows 11. Thus, this version of the operating system has gained almost two percent (1.83%) in just one month. Windows 10, by contrast, the world’s most popular operating system, is present on 71.29% of computers, down less than one percent from 71.88% in September.

Windows 7, which ran out of software support a few years ago already, is still in third place with 9.61% of the total, while Windows 8.1 has 2.45% of the market and Windows 8 “standard” 0.69%. Interestingly, however, Windows XP is still at the top, with 0.39% of the market.

Microsoft’s Windows platform thus has 76% of the PC operating system market, while Apple’s macOS has 15.7% and Linux comes in second with just 2.6%.

But when it comes to operating systems regardless of platform, Android takes first place with 42.37% of the total, followed by Windows with 30.11%, iOS with 17.6%, macOS with 6.24% and Linux with 1.04%.

These statistics collected by Statcounter are based on tracking codes from 1.5 million sites worldwide. Of course, those using adblock or anti-tracking systems are not counted, so these results may not reveal 100% of the reality in the market.