US Browser and OS market share trends over the last decade

[Obioban]

Obvious that Windows was going to lose out to mobile, but kind of shocking how dramatic it has been and the kind of gains MacOS has been making. The way things are trending, it looks entirely possible that MacOS + iOS will having a larger percent of web browsing than Windows + Android in short order.

 

https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/all/united-states-of-america#monthly-200901-202303

 

 

Just desktop:

April 2013: Windows 85.6%, Mac 12.86%

April 2023: Windows 53.43%, Mac 31.34%

[TempestCatto]

Thanks Windows 11

 

 

 

That Linux value seems suspiciously low. I feel like I've met more people recently that have switched to Mint or Ubuntu. In part because they don't feel the need for a new computer but don't want Windows 11. That or I simply have met some oddballs the past few weeks. 

[bezza...]

5 minutes ago, TempestCatto said:

Thanks Windows 11

 

 

 

That Linux value seems suspiciously low. I feel like I've met more people recently that have switched to Mint or Ubuntu. In part because they don't feel the need for a new computer but don't want Windows 11. That or I simply have met some oddballs the past few weeks. 

nah i doubt it. most people just dont know it exists or cba to learn it

[Senzelian]

11 minutes ago, TempestCatto said:

Thanks Windows 11

The graph starts shortly after the Win7 release. It looks to me that Win11 brought the decline to a halt. 

[Montana One-Six]

The issue with a graph like this is it really doesn't tell you anyhing. A few things that are very important in a comparison like that:

- How many devices are there overall and how did that number change over that time span

- How many of these devices are smartphones and tablets vs computers and laptops again with their numerical change over the same time span

- How old are these devices and are they still in use

 

Also would be interesting to know what the basis of that data is. Is it sales numbers or is it some website like google who tracks what OS uses their services? Because if it is just sales numbers there are other issues that make it bad for a comparison like that.

[Brando212]

People not liking Windows 11 is probably a small factor but not much; most of those types have just stuck to 10.

 

The bigger factor I see is Apple Silicon with the M1/M2. Despite people mocking it, I do think it's making a bigger difference than most realize to draw people back to mac books. The improved battery life alone while still getting good performance is really appealing to many.

[Holmes108]

11 minutes ago, Montana One-Six said:

The issue with a graph like this is it really doesn't tell you anyhing. A few things that are very important in a comparison like that:

- How many devices are there overall and how did that number change over that time span

- How many of these devices are smartphones and tablets vs computers and laptops again with their numerical change over the same time span

- How old are these devices and are they still in use

 

Also would be interesting to know what the basis of that data is. Is it sales numbers or is it some website like google who tracks what OS uses their services? Because if it is just sales numbers there are other issues that make it bad for a comparison like that.

 

Plus other factors like many (most?) Iphone and Android users still own PC's as well. That may not change the fact that this still represents what's being used to browse most, but still relevant, I think.

 

But the idea people browse casually on a mobile device over a PC isn't exactly shocking (as OP also pointed out)

[Obioban]

20 minutes ago, Montana One-Six said:

The issue with a graph like this is it really doesn't tell you anyhing. A few things that are very important in a comparison like that:

- How many devices are there overall and how did that number change over that time span

- How many of these devices are smartphones and tablets vs computers and laptops again with their numerical change over the same time span

- How old are these devices and are they still in use

 

Also would be interesting to know what the basis of that data is. Is it sales numbers or is it some website like google who tracks what OS uses their services? Because if it is just sales numbers there are other issues that make it bad for a comparison like that.

 

This is absolutely a graph of usage, not sales-- so devices with a longer useful life will have a better showing for sure.

[CerealExperimentsLain]

I'm pretty sure that chart is much more 'The decline of the desktop PC and laptop PC' rather than the 'decline of WIndows'.

 

Once a desktop or a laptop was a defacto home appliance. If say in 2005 you didn't have a PC, you we're a backwards person in the dark ages.  Now many consumers are able to get everything they want out of a phone and maybe a tablet.  They didn't abandon 'Windows' they abandoned an entire class of consumer electronic.

 

This never really clicked with me until the March 2020 COVID driven rush to work from home.  My company and many others quickly realized how many employees just didn't have 'A desk to do computer stuff on' because they didn't really use a desktop or laptop at home.  Even with the company supplying the hardware, they just didn't have a physical space that was appropriate.  People we're doing work from kitchen and coffee tables.  The PC gamers we're ready to go but most others, not so much.  A lot of home rearrangements and runs to Ikea in Spring 2020, let me tell you.

[Obioban]

1 hour ago, CerealExperimentsLain said:

I'm pretty sure that chart is much more 'The decline of the desktop PC and laptop PC' rather than the 'decline of WIndows'.

 

Once a desktop or a laptop was a defacto home appliance. If say in 2005 you didn't have a PC, you we're a backwards person in the dark ages.  Now many consumers are able to get everything they want out of a phone and maybe a tablet.  They didn't abandon 'Windows' they abandoned an entire class of consumer electronic.

 

This never really clicked with me until the March 2020 COVID driven rush to work from home.  My company and many others quickly realized how many employees just didn't have 'A desk to do computer stuff on' because they didn't really use a desktop or laptop at home.  Even with the company supplying the hardware, they just didn't have a physical space that was appropriate.  People we're doing work from kitchen and coffee tables.  The PC gamers we're ready to go but most others, not so much.  A lot of home rearrangements and runs to Ikea in Spring 2020, let me tell you.

 

Maybe, but if you limit it to just "real" computers...

April 2013: Windows 85.6%, Mac 12.86%

April 2023: Windows 53.43%, Mac 31.34% (no longer adds up to ~100% because linux and chromebooks)

[Holmes108]

6 minutes ago, Obioban said:

 

Maybe, but if you limit it to just "real" computers...

April 2013: Windows 85.6%, Mac 12.86%

April 2023: Windows 53.43%, Mac 31.34% (no longer adds up to ~100% because linux and chromebooks)

 

30%? I find that hard to believe 1/3 computers are mac. What's a "real" computer? 

 

Edit: Is it just excluding office computers? Even so, that's still surprisingly high to me if true.

[saintlouisbagels]

6 minutes ago, Holmes108 said:

30%? I find that hard to believe 1/3 computers are mac. What's a "real" computer? 

Maybe it's the rise of YouTubers/creatives using Photoshop and Final Cut Pro and the decline of casual users needing a desktop when smartphones/tablets provide all the utility they need?

 

Naturally less % on one side will increase % on the other side, even if the other side's numbers didn't actually increase.

[Obioban]

7 minutes ago, Holmes108 said:

 

30%? I find that hard to believe 1/3 computers are mac. What's a "real" computer? 

 

Edit: Is it just excluding office computers? Even so, that's still surprisingly high to me if true.

By real computer, I meant no iOS/Android devices-- so desktops and laptops.

 

This is by web browsing stats (as in, what computers are browsing the internet).

[Holmes108]

3 minutes ago, Obioban said:

By real computer, I meant no iOS/Android devices. Desktops/laptops.

 

This is by quantity of we browsing.

 

Doh, browsing, of course. Forgot the topic of the thread I was in. I was thinking hardware marketshare.

[CerealExperimentsLain]

8 minutes ago, Obioban said:

 

Maybe, but if you limit it to just "real" computers...

April 2013: Windows 85.6%, Mac 12.86%

April 2023: Windows 53.43%, Mac 31.34% (no longer adds up to ~100% because linux and chromebooks)

Yes, and?

 

It's no secret that the Mac desktop and laptop products have grown their market share rapidly, specifically in the United States.

Apple saw a huge spike in desktop and laptop sales starting in... Yup, Spring 2020.  While all desktops and laptops spiked then of course, Apple spiked harder.  They've also fallen off a cliff in 2023.  You can't look at percentages without context for how large the whole number is and how that changes year over year.

 

The popularity of the desktop and laptop computer is declining, the popularity of Apple's desktop and laptop computers is just declining slower.

[Obioban]

1 minute ago, CerealExperimentsLain said:

Yes, and?

 

It's no secret that the Mac desktop and laptop products have grown their market share rapidly, specifically in the United States.

Apple saw a huge spike in desktop and laptop sales starting in... Yup, Spring 2020.  While all desktops and laptops spiked then of course, Apple spiked harder.  They've also fallen off a cliff in 2023.  You can't look at percentages without context for how large the whole number is and how that changes year over year.

 

The popularity of the desktop and laptop computer is declining, the popularity of Apple's desktop and laptop computers is just declining slower.

I'm not certain Mac sale are declining overall. Yes, perhaps year, as inflation kicks up and everyone upgraded recently for covid, but not sure that's part of a larger trend just yet.

 

 

[CerealExperimentsLain]

8 minutes ago, Obioban said:

I'm not certain Mac sale are declining overall.

Don't reach much news media, do ya?

 

https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/04/10/mac-shipments-collapse-40-year-over-year-on-declining-demand

[Obioban]

23 minutes ago, CerealExperimentsLain said:

Don't reach much news media, do ya?

 

https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/04/10/mac-shipments-collapse-40-year-over-year-on-declining-demand

Yes, I understand this coming quarter is likely to be bad ("likely" because we don't actually have numbers from Apple yet).

 

But, what I mean was that is an individual quarter with a lot of coinciding factors-- one quarter does not a trend make.

[starsmine]

All that chart says is that smartphones became a thing.
The pie still grew there wasnt a decline in PCs, just an incline of smart phones.

33 minutes ago, CerealExperimentsLain said:

Don't reach much news media, do ya?

 

https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/04/10/mac-shipments-collapse-40-year-over-year-on-declining-demand

yes... after the highest peak during covid.
Saying year over year decline after the biggest PC shopping spree ever is just a misleading data point. 2020 through 2022 had everyone buying new PCs as work shifted to and from remote requiring a refresh of the fleet. 2023 the fleet was still brand new, no one needed a new PC.

[Montana One-Six]

5 hours ago, Obioban said:

This is absolutely a graph of usage, not sales-- so devices with a longer useful life will have a better showing for sure.

The graph says market share not usage. So how do they get to these numbers of market share? Is it annual (or quarterly) sales? Is it sales overtime? Or something else?

 

The graph of market share as shown here is just a terrible indicator and you cannot get any meaningful conclusion about anything with it. For that we would need more info about other very important factors. Right now the only useful information you get is market share of x is higher than y.

"Why is it higher?" "I don't know but it is higher." Wow very insightful.

[Holmes108]

7 hours ago, Obioban said:

 

Just desktop:

April 2013: Windows 85.6%, Mac 12.86%

April 2023: Windows 53.43%, Mac 31.34%

 

Finally got a chance to check out the actual site. Very interesting, and pretty user friendly. I'm still unsure of the above statistic. Maybe I'm just distracted as I should be working, lol, but isn't mac the purple line? I don't see it above 20% anywhere.

[Obioban]

43 minutes ago, Holmes108 said:

 

Finally got a chance to check out the actual site. Very interesting, and pretty user friendly. I'm still unsure of the above statistic. Maybe I'm just distracted as I should be working, lol, but isn't mac the purple line? I don't see it above 20% anywhere.

That's the result once you turn off android and iOS (so it's just windows, macos, chrome os, and Linux-- desktop OSs).

[Obioban]

37 minutes ago, Montana One-Six said:

The graph says market share not usage. So how do they get to these numbers of market share? Is it annual (or quarterly) sales? Is it sales overtime? Or something else?

 

The graph of market share as shown here is just a terrible indicator and you cannot get any meaningful conclusion about anything with it. For that we would need more info about other very important factors. Right now the only useful information you get is market share of x is higher than y.

"Why is it higher?" "I don't know but it is higher." Wow very insightful.

https://gs.statcounter.com/factsheet

 

Quote

Understanding Browser Usage Share Data

StatCounter Global Stats Fact Sheet

Sample size

When compiling statistics, larger sample sizes generally lead to more reliable results. Our stats are based on over 5 billion page views per month recorded across more than 1.5 million websites. We are not aware of any other publicly available data source with a larger sample size.

Browser Usage Stats based on Page Views

StatCounter measures internet usage trends. We track which browsers are actually used most. To accurately measure browser usage, we base our stats on page views (and not unique visitors). This means we take account of how frequently browsers are used and we also track multi-browser usage by individuals.

Market share of web browsing is what I assume they mean.

[starsmine]

56 minutes ago, Montana One-Six said:

The graph says market share not usage. So how do they get to these numbers of market share? Is it annual (or quarterly) sales? Is it sales overtime? Or something else?

 

The graph of market share as shown here is just a terrible indicator and you cannot get any meaningful conclusion about anything with it. For that we would need more info about other very important factors. Right now the only useful information you get is market share of x is higher than y.

"Why is it higher?" "I don't know but it is higher." Wow very insightful.

its what OS is hitting their cookies.
It has nothing to do with sales directly, but what is being in use. AKA usage.

[maplepants]

17 hours ago, Montana One-Six said:

The issue with a graph like this is it really doesn't tell you anyhing

I think it does. It tells you how people are using the web. 10 years ago, the web was something you used from your desktop computer. Today, your web page is going to get similar amounts of traffic from iOS, Android, and Windows as well as a big chunk of macOS, and a noteworthy amount of ChromeOS. Obviously this won't hold true for everyone but these kind of trends are used by web UX developers all the time. 

 

Where I work, we use data like this from our sites and generic sources like this one when planning our test suite. Right now, for example, we don't do any tests on ChromeOS. But if usage shot up, we would.