Microsoft mobile OS Windows 10 requires massive 8 GB of internal storage to update

Microsoft's latest mobile OS Windows 10 requires a massive 8GB of internal storage to update from Windows Phone 8.1.

Those who have a low-end phone will not not be able to move to Windows 10 as a number of current Windows handsets, including the Nokia Lumia 539 and the HTC 8S have only 4GB of internal storage.

Windows Insiders, the programme that Microsoft ran to help test its new OS, discovered that early versions of Windows 10 Mobile required over 4GB -- and it now seemed the full OS required double that amount.

The release of Windows 10 Mobile, the successor to Windows Phone 8, was only a matter of time, but Microsoft has been quiet about the requirements to run the new software and who would get it (beyond a list of Nokia phones), and whether carriers had any say in the rollout.

According to commentators, the requirement of over 8GB of internal storage space was quite strange for Microsoft, which as seen its largest market share gains from low-end phones in emerging markets, where users of expensive devices to accommodate the Windows 10 Mobile was limited.

Meanwhile with a free upgrade and rave reviews, Windows 10 was being downloaded at a frenetic paced in contrast to Windows 8.

Pent-up demand for PCs and back-to-school sales had given Windows 10 a jolt too, according to analyst Mika Kitagawa of tech consultancy Gartner. PC sales were down 9.5 per cent last quarter, the biggest fall in two years with consumers holding out for PCs loaded with Windows 10.

According to Microsoft, the frenzied pace of Windows 10 downloads had been a global phenomenon. It is being downloaded by a broad spectrum of customers and in order to ensure that every customer who downloaded Windows 10 had a PC that could handle it, Microsoft has been rolling out the upgrades gradually as it tests some of the less common PC models for bugs.

According to Microsoft, Windows 10 had been installed on 90,000 unique PC models so far and even some customers with eight-year old PCs had been downloading Windows 10.