Windows 10 smashes five per cent share barrier

But the operating system's growth begins to slow

Windows 10 now accounts for more than five per cent of the global operating systems market, according to figures from StatCounter.

The analyst claims that since Windows 10 hit the market, it has grabbed 5.56 per cent share of the global OS market. But although it has snapped up a sizeable chunk of the market in just four weeks, the rate it has taken the share has slowed recently.

In week two, Windows 10 had grabbed 3.34 per cent market share – up 2.11 percentage points from its first week on the market. In week three, its share crept up again by only 1.54 points to 4.88 per cent, and in week four – for which the most recent figures are available – its share managed to climb only 0.68 points to 5.56 per cent of the market.

The rollout of the OS is phased, meaning not everyone who wanted to upgrade was able to on the day Windows 10 became available – which could be behind the apparent slowing uptake.

In the most recent figures, Windows 10 is narrowly behind Apple's iOS, which has a global market share of 5.95 per cent. In the four weeks Windows 10 has been available, share of Windows 8.1 machines has steadily slumped, although in the past week, Windows 7's share rose slightly on the week before, taking its figure to 48.08 per cent.

In the first 24 hours on the market, Windows 10 was downloaded 14 million times, according to Microsoft. But the vendor has not released any further figures since then.