Microsoft's Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 are slowly gaining market share, new figures suggest.

Statistics from Net Applications indicate that the PC operating system has edged ahead of Apple's Mac OS X platform with a 3.17% share of the market, Digital Spy reported citing TechRadar.

Its predecessor Windows 7 still leads the way in the sector with a 44.73% slice, while the 11-year-old Windows XP is going strong on 38.73%.

Microsoft's Windows Phone experienced similar gains on its desktop counterpart, securing a 4.1% share of the US market - a year-on-year gain of 1.4% - and 6.7% in the UK, figures from Kantar Worldpanel appear to indicate.

Windows Phone, which includes versions 7 and 8, also took 6.8% in Germany and a 13.1% share in Italy.

Apple's iOS operating system is said to have seen downturns in several territories, including a 3.9% decline in the US market.