Whenever Windows 10 is about to get a feature update, more people will move to Windows 10. This is exactly what happened last month. Knowledge of the new feature update may or may not be a reason for the increased market share. But it is always good to see more people adopting a newer version of Windows. Data from Statcounter shows that Windows 10 has increased its market share in the last month.
Windows 10 has a market share of 46.03% as of April 2018. This is higher than Windows 7 which has a market share of 40.1%. Windows 8.1 comes in the third place with a market share of 7.93% and Windows XP is at the fourth position with a market share of 3.19%. Windows 8 still has a share of 2.06% and Windows Vista has a meager 0.61% market share.
The good thing to note here is that, of all the different versions of Windows, Windows 10 is the only version which is seeing an increase in market share. All the other versions, including Windows 7, is seeing a decrease in market share. This is the way it should be as Windows 10 is the newer and most secure version of Windows but for many reasons, people are not leaving older versions, especially Windows 7.
Interestingly, NetMarketShare data shows that Windows 7 was the version of Windows that showed an increase in market share while Windows 10 saw a minor decrease in market share.
Gamers still prefer Windows 7 over Windows 10. Some older games run better on Windows 7. But the interesting thing is that Windows 10 actually has a Game Bar with a dedicated Game Mode and other cool stuff like the ability to record and broadcast gameplay without even having to use a third-party app. Even though some gamers prefer Windows 7, game developers make games with newer operating systems in their mind. So should stop using Windows 7 and switch to Windows 10. Of course, they have the freedom to use whichever operating system they want but it is always wise to choose the best.
On a worldwide scale, Windows 10 might have more market share but when it comes to developing countries like India, this is not the case. In India Windows 7 has a market share of 52.49% and Windows 10 has only 31.82%. This is a huge difference and is really unfortunate since India is a country with a huge population.
There are two main reasons for this. The most significant of them being upgrading to Windows 10 is expensive. People in developing countries are simply not willing to pay a premium for something they can’t physically touch. At Rs 14,499 for Windows 10 Pro and Rs 8,499 for the Home variant, Windows 10 is really expensive. There are a lot of people who prefer to buy a genuine copy of Windows 10 but they simply can’t afford it. So they stick with the older Windows 7 which is still capable of running all the legacy apps they need.
This is also the issue with companies, offices, and schools. These institutions and organizations need the most secure version of Windows but it is not possible for them to invest a lot of money into upgrading to Windows 10. There are institutions which still use Windows XP. Microsoft has to do something about the price of Windows 10 if they wanna see more Windows 10 installs.
The second reason is the ignorance of older people. Older people do not care about what version of Windows they are using. They just want to do their work in a familiar operating system. Some even feel that Windows 10 is difficult to use. So they stick with older and familiar version such as Windows 7.
Of all the operating systems available, Windows in general stands at the second position. Android is the market leader with a 40.15% market share. Windows has a market share of 36.68%. iOS stands third with a market share of 12.59%. Mac OS X has a market share of about 5.86%.
Smartphone operating systems combined have a market share of 52.74%. With Windows 10 Mobile on the verge of extinction, Microsoft seriously has to bring something into the mobile world to get more market share. We can hope to see a Surface-branded mobile device launching this year which can give some share to Microsoft in the mobile space.
