Windows 10's PC market share rose in April 2016, Windows 7 drops below 50%

Windows 10 was used by 14.35% of all PCs worldwide in April 2016, according to the latest data from Net Applications. Meanwhile, the share held by Windows 7 dropped below the 50% mark.

The newly posted market share numbers showed that while Windows 7 remains at the top of the OS chain, it's share dropped to 48.79% in April, well below its 51.89% share in March. Windows 10 is in second place, but only made a slight gain in April with 14.35%, compared to 14.15% in March.

Windows XP, which Microsoft no longer supports, remains in third place with 9.66% in April, compared to 10.90% in March. Windows 8.1 is in fourth place with 9.16%, down from 9.56% in March.

Microsoft stated in late March that Windows 10 was in active use by over 270 million devices since it officially launched in late July 2015. The company will release a free Anniversary Update for the OS sometime later this summer. Meanwhile, consumers who own Windows 7 and 8.1 PCs have less than three months to take advantage of Microsoft's free upgrade offer for Windows 10; it will expire on July 29.