Microsoft's Windows 8 has overtaken Windows Vista to become the third most-used operating system in the world, new figures suggest.

According to Digital Spy, statistics from Net Applications appear to indicate that the latest version of Windows has a 5.1% share of the market, edging out Vista on 4.62% and all iterations of Apple's Mac OS.

Windows 7 remains the world's most prevalent OS with 44.37% of the market in June, while its predecessor Windows XP takes second place with 37.17%.

All of the Microsoft platforms combined accounted for 91.51% of the market, Mac OS for 7.2% and the open-source Linux for 1.28%.

Microsoft recently rolled out the preview version of its Windows 8.1 update, adding new personalisation options and reintroducing the Start button and boot-to-desktop features.

Windows 8.1 will begin its full rollout later this year.