Operating systems control all smart devices tasks from booting to installing other application. The systems differ from company to company for instance most smartphones use Googles’ operating system whereas Apple’s devices use either iOS or OSX. We look at the most popular operating systems in Uganda, Africa and worldwide across the gadgets that is mobile phones, tablets and PCs according Global Statistics.
Android
Google’s operating system, Android takes up the largest market share in Uganda and Africa at 38.89% and 48.74%. Across the world, it ranks second behind windows at 37.13%
Windows
Windows with 34.27% market share in Uganda and 33.38% in Africa comes in the second place. The operating system on another hand ranks number 1 worldwide covering 37.42% of devices. The system maintains a good rank across all devices because it’s the most popular in PCs and laptops.
Unknown Operating Systems
These take up the 3rd place in both Uganda and Africa but 5th worldwide.
OS X and iOS
Surprisingly, OS X – an operating system for Apple’s iMacs and MacBooks take up a higher market share that iOS in iPhones and iPads in both Uganda and Africa. Does this imply that iMacs and MacBooks are most popular that the iPhones among Ugandans and Africa at large yet they are way more expensive?
The OS X covers 3.68% of devices in Uganda and 5.68% in Africa while iOS (for iPhones and iPads only) covers 2.59% and 4.07% in Uganda and Africa respectively.
Others
Series 40, an operating system in mainly the older Nokia phones such as the Ashas has 1.23% of Uganda operating system market share and 0.61% in Africa but does not scale up worldwide.
Linux, gets a portion of 0.81% of the world market making it 6th most used system.
| Operating System | Uganda | Africa | Worldwide |
| Android | 38.89% | 48.74% | 3742% |
| Windows | 34.27% | 33.38% | 37.13% |
| OSX | 3.68% | 5.68% | 6.55% |
| iOS | 2.59% | 4.07% | 2.92% |
| Series 40 | 1.23% | 0.61% | |
| Unknown | 17.37% | 5.70% | 13.59% |
Desktop and Laptops
| Operating System | Uganda | Africa | Worldwide |
| Windows | 84.24% | 81.68% | 78.04% |
| OS X | 9.28% | 10.10% | 13.73% |
| Unknown | 4.85% | 7.15% | 5.44% |
| Linux | 1.49% | 0.97% | 1.64% |
| Chrome OS | 0.13% | 0.09% | 1.15% |
| Free BSD | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Windows remains the most popular operating system in PCs across all regions as shown in the table below. It is followed by iOS Unknown Operating Systems, Linux, Google’s Chrome OS usually used in Chromebooks. Free BSD a free and open-source Unix-like operating system that descended from Research Unix via the Berkeley Software Distribution- Wikipedia ranks 6th across with 0% coverage.
