iOS is now outselling Windows for the first time ever

Whether this information reflects poorly on Microsoft or well on Apple isn’t clear, probably a bit of both, but analyst Benedict Evans noted earlier this week that more iOS devices are being sold than Windows devices now. The information was pulled from a number of sources and what it means is that the sales of Apple’s iPads, iPhones, and iPods are now exceeding the combined sales of every PC manufacturer in the world. 

Sales of Apple’s iOS lineup — comprised of the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch — has now matched annual sales of devices running the ubiquitous Microsoft Windows platform. The new milestone for Apple was noted this week by analyst Benedict Evans, culled from data provided by Gartner, Apple, and a16z. It shows that while annual Windows PC sales have fluctuated around the 300 million mark since 2008, iOS devices have continued their meteoric rise. Though iOS devices include the iPad and iPod touch, recent growth has been driven solely by the iPhone. Sales of the iPad and iPod, meanwhile, have shrunk in recent years, but tremendous iPhone growth has carried the iOS platform to new heights. Annual sales of devices running Google’s Android platform had already surpassed Windows PCs long ago — in March of 2012. The total install base of Windows machines remains much larger, at 1.5 billion. But PCs also have a much longer upgrade cycle than mobile phones, helping to push annual iOS sales even with Windows computers.