What OS is dominating the operating system market share in 2025?
The world is dominated by a set of Operating Systems developed by pioneers in the tech industry.
Have you ever thought about which one is the best?
Different Operating Systems are created as solutions for various problems, and so, there are many statistics.
So let’s get into the details, where we will find out whether there is a single OS that can handle all real-world issues, and let’s have a closer look at their market shares.
- OS X reached a 16.54% market share during the period November 2019-2020
- 80.02% of market share was macOS Catalina in October 2021
- Microsoft Windows 7 Operating System has 100 million users in 2021
- $45.317 billion revenue was made by Windows in the third quarter of 2021
- 55.9% of professional developers used Linux in 2020
- Chinese Government use their own Linux OS, Ubuntu Kylin
- 11% market share was achieved by Google Chrome OS in 2020
- 30 million Chromebooks are used in the education sector
- 78% of global market share controlled by Android OS
- iOS got a 16.76% market share during the first quarter of 2021
The desktop market share of OS X has shown a slight increase compared to the previous year-to-year share rate(14.64%). Mac OS is highly optimized to provide maximum performance for the user.
The 10.15 version macOS Catalina is the sixteenth OS release from Apple Inc desktop operating system. The OS was announced in June 2019 and made available to the public by October 2019.
Catalina OS got its name from the Island Santa Catalina, and it has a large fanbase in the Apple community. macOS Catalina introduced the Activation Lock function in Macbooks for the first time.
3. 20 Million MacBook Units Sold in 2020
According to the stats of TrendForce, Apple sold 13.4 million MacBook units in 2016 globally, and within a year, there was an increase of 18% in sales.
However, 2018 and 2019 were not so good for Apple, in which shipments went down below 13 million. The Covid-19 pandemic favored Apple sales in 2020 as it was able to sell more than 20 million MacBook units.
4. 100 Million Active Mac OS installs Completed
Tim Cook, Apple CEO, at a press event in 2018, confirmed that Apple has crossed the 100 million MacBook OS activations. Apple generated $365 billion in revenue in 2020, and it expects a better revenue by the fourth quarter of 2021.
Interestingly, 40% of revenue generation comes from America alone.
5. 76% of Mac Buyers in China Use It for The First Time
Almost 50% of Mac users every year are new to the product. It shows that more people are interested in upgrading their PC/laptop experience to MacBook.
According to the reports, in September 2021, macOS has a 9.54% market share of desktop and laptop OS.
Microsoft Annual Revenue (Millions of US $)
6. Microsoft Windows 7 Operating System has 100 Million Users in 2021
Microsoft first launched the Windows 7 OS in 2009 and ended the support in January 2020. However, there are almost 100 million PCs in the world still working in Windows 7 OS.
7. $45.317 Billion Revenue for Windows in The Third Quarter of 2021
Windows OS recorded a 91% usage share according to the statistics of Net Applications in August 2021, and StatCounter analytics shows a 76% usage share of Windows OS globally.
8. 57.57% Windows PC/laptop Users have Windows 10 OS
Earlier, Windows 7 was the leading OS till 2018 where 11.36% of people used it. Microsoft aimed to run Windows 10 OS on as many as 1 billion devices three years after launching.
Still, it failed to achieve the timeline due to the disappointing market performance of Windows phones.
As per the latest stats, Windows 10 has been installed on more than 700 million devices. People use Windows 10 Os in PCs, laptops, tablets, phones, Xbox One consoles, etc.
A study conducted by Net Applications revealed that Windows OS registered more than 32% usage share in multiple device platforms, and Android has the highest rate with 46.03%.
According to the latest statistics, Windows 11 has been installed on 1% of all PCs, which is a comparatively better percentage provided that Windows 11 is the newest product.
People who are familiar with using Windows 10 may take more time to upgrade to the new one. A lot of people are still using the Windows 10 May 2020 update.
11. 55.9% of Professional Developers Used Linux in 2020
Around 76.9% of professionals prefer the Linux platform to work in 2020. The Linux OS recorded a growth of 0.27 in March to 1.89 during April 2020.
12. Chinese Government Use Their Own Linux OS, Ubuntu Kylin
When it comes to national security, no Government will think twice about utilizing the security facilities of Linux. The Venezuelan Government uses a Debian-based OS named Canaima.
Similarly, the Russian Government has Astra Linux OS, and the Turkish Government owns Pardus Linux OS. Wienux is a Debian-based OS used by the Vienna authorities in Austria.
13. There Are About 3.5 Billion Linux Users in The World
Even though Windows OS is the most popular operating system globally, Linux has a strong fanbase of its own. Around 116,000 websites in the US run on Ubuntu.
According to statistics, the US is the most Ubuntu-used country globally, and Russia comes second in the list.
14. Almost 100% of The World’s Top 500 Supercomputers Run on Linux
Linux is free and easy to customize according to needs, which is why it is used in building supercomputers.
China stands first with 213 supercomputers out of 500, and the US comes second with 113 of the total supercomputers.
15. 1.93% of All the Desktop Operating Systems in The World Is Linux
Linux achieved a market share of 3.97% in India during 2018. Almost all android phones use Linux, and 38% of all websites in the world run on the Linux platform.
Linux is third in the world market OS share where Windows stands first, and Mac is second.
Windows OS has been the chart-topper for a long time while macOS stands second in the competition. The market share was usual until Google Chrome OS entered the stream and overtook the macOS position.
17. 60% of All Laptops and Tablets for K-12 Classrooms Are Chromebooks
The education-tech market sector in the US is expected to reach $43 billion, in which K-12 education has a crucial role.
Apple products were once used for K-12 education, but statistics show that 60 percent of all the tablets and laptops bought for the K-12 classrooms in 2019 are Chromebooks.
Interestingly, in 2012, it was just 5 percent, showing the gradual growth of Chrome OS in the market.
18. 30 Million Chromebooks Are Used in The Education Sector
Google has gradually created a segment in which it got a target audience to communicate. Based on the stats, there are 80 million people globally using G Suite for education purposes.
In 2018, Google claimed that 25 million Chromebooks were sold for the same purpose. The significant advantage of Google is that it is a one-stop for all requirements related to education.
The Google classroom management tool where students and teachers can share homework and plan lesson details has over 40 million users.
19. 13 Million Chromebook Shipments Were Recorded in The First Quarter of 2021
The Covid-19 pandemic hit the market, causing the shut down of many outlets such as educational centers, restaurants, shopping malls, IT companies, and more.
Chromebooks were ordered by the thousands from various enterprises to firms to compensate for the situation.
The work-from-home and study-from-the home situation created a massive demand for Chrome OS products.
According to IDC(International Data Corporation), 13 million units of Chromebooks were shipped during the First Quarter of 2021.
Nobody anticipated the development of the Chromebook, and it was a shock to experts when the usage statistics showed a decline in Apple products.
Even though Apple products are Brand leaders, they failed to attain two of the most important things. One is affordability, and the other is the ease of use.
The Chromebooks are aggressively priced between $200-$300 price range, and its Web-based OS is straightforward to understand and use.
The Apple market value declined eventually to 24 percent from 32 percent, and the Windows market value remained constant throughout the period.
The desktop market share of ChromeOS will be 1.7% in 2021.
Apple phones with the iOS platform have a huge fanbase in China. For the last few quarters of Apple’s growth, China has had a significant influence.
Apple got 72% of China’s market share in the First Quarter of 2021 with the massive decline of the top-end segment of Huawei phones in the market.
It is ahead of the $800 or more market segment compared to the 24% market share of Huawei phones.
Globally, all Chinese brands are increasing, with Xiaomi hitting record volume this quarter with 86.6% YoY.
However, another rising star is Realme, with the fastest growth amongst the top 10 at 149% YoY and over 76% of its volume from outside China.
As all these Chinese brands increase their focus in regions like Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa, the competition will only get more intense for the likes of Samsung and other local players in those markets.”
Nabila Popal, The Research Director, IDC Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers.
21. Smartphone Shipment Achieved 13.2% Growth Beating IDC Predictions
IDC expected an approximate gain of 12.5% for smartphone shipments by the second quarter of 2021.
However, around 313.2 million devices were shipped during the second quarter of 2021, proving that the
smartphone market is on the right path to advancement. It was notable in all world markets except for China.
The Chinese market was missing flagship product competitions due to the decline of Huawei and LG, which pulled their market down by -10%.
Android is competing with iOS in many markets of European and American countries.
However, while checking the global market share stats from 2018, it is evident that the Android values are gradually declining from 77.32 percent to 72.1 percent.
At the same time, iOS achieved growth from 19 percent to 27 percent market value.
With 2.8 billion active users, Android OS has the top position in the mobile OS industry, with a whopping revenue of $19 billion per year. Google Play has reached a $38.6 billion market value by 2020.
In 2020, Google Play recorded 108 billion downloads from 2.9 million app choices.
Except for some exceptions like Japan and US, where Apple has deep roots in the market, the rest of the world’s countries stand with Android and has more than 85% of the smartphone market share of countries like India, Iran, Brazil, Indonesia, etc.
The best market share value of Android was accomplished with the help of the Android 10.0 10 version.
With a 21.53 percent market share, Android Pie 9.0 stands in the second position, followed by Oreo 8.1 that has a 9.89 percent market share value.
Both Marshmallow and Oreo 8.1 versions got the same market share(9.89 percent) during the period.
Even though the US market stands with iOS, the Android platform user has achieved a 24 percent market value during the second Quarter of 2021.
Unlike many other android phones, Samsung has a reputation for producing flagship phones that can compete with the qualities of Apple products.
26. US and UK Stand with iOS than Android
iOS gained dominance in the UK during the first quarter of 2021 with a 53% market share, leaving Android behind.
At the same time, Android is falling in the US with just 38 percent market share during the First Quarter of 2021. iOS has perfect dominance in countries like US and UK.
In the Third Quarter of 2019, Android achieved 45 percent in the US market share; other than that, it never came close to the iOS market value.
Apple has several models that run on iOS. The iPad series, iPhone series, etc., are some of the best quality delivering devices.
However, the growth of Apple products is not as rapid as Android OS devices; the reasons are its price and handling difficulty for ordinary people.
According to the stats, iOS showed a steady decline of 14% during the period of 2015 to 2020.
Experts believe that this decline is the aftereffect of the competition between Chinese brands Xiaomi and Huawei.
28. iOS Devices Gained a 50.4% YOY Increase During the First Phase of 2021
In 2020, iPhone was able to ship 206.1 million units which is 7.9 percent more compared to the previous year.
And they managed to distribute 55.2 million devices in the market during the first quarter of 2021, attaining a 50.4 percent year-over-year increase.
With a 19.3 percent market share, iPhone achieved more than twice the market share compared to the previous year.
The main competitors for iPhone in the Chinese market are Xiaomi and Huawei. The sales of the iPhone have fallen from 71 million to 34 million while checking the sales stats of iPhone during the period 2015-2020.
Similarly, the First Quarter of 2021 saw a 13 percent decline in iPhone market share.
26.28 percent of the world mobile operating system market is controlled by iOS. It has deep roots in many European countries, Japan and the US.
Based on the Backlinko statistics of the Fourth Quarter of 2020, about 65 percent of all smartphone shipments done in the US are of iPhones.
That is an increase of 49 percent compared to the Fourth Quarter of 2019. About 15 percent of the iPhones in the global market are iPhone 12 models.
Conclusion
The OS is the heart of all devices, and all functions depend upon the performance of the OS.
Based on the market share statistics in 2025 provided, it is clear that all operating systems successfully gather the crowd’s attention in the global market.
Windows is the most popular OS provider in the segment, Apple secures the popular segment of phones and computers, Android is the most sold smartphone OS, Linux supports plenty of devices without charging, and Google Chrome OS is becoming the backbone of the education system.
