Windows 8.x crossed 10% market share while XP falls to 28% and Windows 7 goes up

Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 market share for December 2013

During the month of December 2013, Net Applications reports that both Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 combined finally surpasses the 10% operating system market share. Windows 8 ended 2013 with 6.89% and Windows 8.1 ended with 3.6%, for a total of 10.49% market share.

On the other hand — with 95 days left before official support ends (at the time of writing this article) — during the last month of 2013, Windows XP fell below 30%, leaving the beloved operating system with 28.98%; this is 2.34% difference from November 2013 data. Windows 7, which seems to be the logical upgrade from many Windows XP users, gained 0.88% market share in the same period. Although, the figures aren’t Microsoft wishes, data shows that Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 are slowly growing and Windows XP is finally declining rapidly.

What’s really surprising is the Windows 8 figure, the operating system grew 0.23% during December 2013, despite Windows 8.1 has been out since October 2013 and is a free update. Probably the reason is that the number is from new Windows PC that didn’t ship with upgraded operating system.

So those are the numbers as we enter a new year (2014). Now it will be interesting to see how market shares drop or rise after Microsoft releases the forthcoming Windows “Threshold” update, which is rumored to bring the Start menu and many more familiar features to Windows 8.2 later this year.

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.