Internet use continues shift from desktop to mobile in 2017

by AFP Relaxnews, Jan 4, 2018

Mobile web browsing outstripped desktop-based internet use worldwide in 2017, according to the latest data from StatCounter.

According to StatCounter data from the end of December 2017, 56.6 percent of global internet traffic came from mobile devices (52.3 percent smartphones and 4.3 percent tablets) compared to 43.4 percent from computers.

When it comes to operating systems, web traffic from computers running Windows takes a clear lead (82.7 percent worldwide), far in front of Apple computers running OS X or macOS (13.1 percent worldwide). The market share of internet use from PCs on Linux remains under 2 percent. For smartphones, Android and iOS largely dominate the market, with Google’s operating system leading the way (73.5 percent worldwide).

According to StatCounter, the most frequently used web browser is Chrome (64.7 percent worldwide), which comes far ahead of Microsoft’s tools (Internet Explorer or Edge) and Firefox.

StatCounter is a web analysis service based on a tracking code installed on more than two million websites worldwide. Several billion page views are analyzed each month. JB