Usage share of operating systems

The usage share of an operating system is the percentage of computers running that operating system (OS). These numbers are only estimates because it is hard to know exactly how many devices use each OS. We usually learn about this by looking at data from devices connected to the internet.

As of December 2025, Android, which uses the Linux kernel, was the most popular operating system in the world, used by about 39% of all devices. Next was Windows with about 30%, followed by iOS with about 16%, and macOS with about 2%. The rest of the devices used other operating systems.

For smartphones, Android was used by most people, while Apple's iOS was used by many others. On desktop computers and laptops, most people used Windows, followed by Mac OS and a small number using desktop Linux or ChromeOS. For tablets, Apple's iPadOS was the most common, used by about half of all tablets, with Android making up the other half.

Linux was used by all of the top 500 most powerful supercomputers since 2017 and was also the most common operating system for web servers and servers around the world. Many devices, such as modern cars and gadgets, use special operating systems that are hard to measure, but they are also very common.

Worldwide device shipments

Shipments to stores don’t always mean sales to people, so these numbers might not show real usage. Smartphones sell more than PCs and cost more, with the gap growing over time.

According to Gartner, here are the worldwide device shipments by operating system from 2012 to 2016, including smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs together.

In 2018, Apple stopped sharing unit sales in its reports. Since then, the company has only shared revenues per device, which analysts use to estimate unit sales by applying wholesale device prices. Other hardware makers usually don’t report unit sales.

For 2015 and earlier, Gartner reported that worldwide PC shipments fell for the fourth year in a row, starting in 2012 when tablets were introduced.

Microsoft moved away from their goal of one billion Windows 10 devices in three years and reported on 26 September 2016 that Windows 10 was running on over 400 million devices, and in March 2019, on more than 800 million.

In May 2020, Gartner predicted a further decline in all device markets for 2020 due to COVID-19, predicting a drop for all devices, but the "Work from Home Trend Saved PC Market from Collapse", with only a small decline predicted for PCs. However, PC shipments grew in the fourth quarter of 2020 and reached 275 million units in 2020, an increase from 2019.

In 2024 and 2025, due to lower adoption of Windows 11 and Microsoft ending support for Windows 10, the number of PCs shipped with Windows dropped. Pundits linked the low Windows 11 acceptance to its high hardware requirements and the 2024 CrowdStrike-related IT outages. Meanwhile, the macOS market share in PC shipments rose, with Linux also seeing improved numbers.

In November 2024, a new competitor to Android and iOS appeared when sales of the Huawei Mate 70 began with the all-new HarmonyOS NEXT operating system. Since 2025 all new Huawei devices have been sold exclusively with HarmonyOS NEXT.

In the first quarter of 2026, Huawei overtook Xiaomi to become the best-selling smartphone brand in China. Rising RAM prices at the end of 2025 caused Gartner to predict lower PC and smartphone sales, which happened in the first quarter of 2026.

Web clients

Different sources collected data about operating systems used on the internet between 2021 and 2022. They looked at many websites.

Right now, Android is the most used operating system, even more than Microsoft Windows. Windows Phone made up a small part of usage before it stopped being made.

When we look only at personal computers, Microsoft Windows is used by less than half of people everywhere. In the US, it's around 30%, and in some places like China and India, it's lower.

Worldwide, Android is used by about 45% of people, more than Windows at about 25%, with iOS third at about 18%.

In Africa, Android is used by over half the people. In Asia, Android has been the most popular since 2016.

The use of operating systems based on Linux kernel (like Android and ChromeOS) is now more than Windows.

Source	Date	Microsoft Windows (kernel):							Apple Darwin:		Linux kernel:			Others
		10	8/8.1	7	Vista	XP	WP&RT	Other	macOS	iOS	Linux	Android	Other
W3Counter	Oct 2025	31.49%	—N/a	7.37%	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	7.98%	14.70%	2.51%	25.66%	—N/a	10.29%
W3Counter	Sept 2025	29.01%	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	9.18%	13.35%	2.85%	33.51%	—N/a	12.1%
W3Counter	Feb 2025	20.95%	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	4.45%	11.71%	2.56%	43.09%	—N/a	16.24%
W3Counter	Dec 2024	22.28%	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	3.34%	13.73%	2.71%	46.42%	—N/a	11.52%
W3Counter	Oct 2022	19.23%	—N/a	3.4%	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	4.03%	19.23%	—N/a	45.18%	—N/a	—N/a
W3Counter	Oct 2020	20.55%	—N/a	6.74%	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	8.06%	13.67%	—N/a	37.44%	—N/a	—N/a
W3Counter	Jun 2019	16.23%	—N/a	14.32%	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	3.58%	13.54%	—N/a	38.76%	—N/a	—N/a
W3Counter	Jun 2018	11.14%	—N/a	12.29%	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	2.80%	10.68%	—N/a	53.21%	—N/a	—N/a
W3Counter	Dec 2016	13.79%	4.54%	18.45%	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	4.45%	12.60%	3.8%	34.37%	—N/a	8%
StatCounter Global Stats	Mar 2017	12.98%	4.57%	17.84%	0.41%	2.07%	0%	0.06%	5.17%	13.09%	0.75%	37.93%	0.76%	7.21%
StatCounter Global Stats	Dec 2016	12.5%	4.79%	18%	0.46%	2.24%	0.64%	0.09%	4.92%	12.71%	0.86%	37.8%	0.72%	4.61%
StatCounter Global Stats	Oct 2016	12.08%	5.21%	18.97%	0.6%	2.44%	0.7%	0.05%	5.3%	12.04%	0.85%	34.46%	0.63%	6.67%
StatCounter Global Stats	May 2016	10.27%	6.68%	22.25%	0.73%	3.44%	0.83%	0.8%	5.05%	11.38%	0.91%	31.6%	0.64%	6.15%
StatCounter Global Stats	Dec 2015	6.67%	8.5%	26.66%	1.0%	4.75%	0.92%	0.2%	5.51%	10.82%	1.03%	27.01%	0.36%	6.57%
Wikimedia	Dec 2016	14.0%	4.65%	18.0%	0.43%	1.70%	0.93%	0.50%	5.4%	19.0%	0.80%	23.0%	0.30%	11.29%

Desktop and laptop computers

Windows is the most used operating system on desktop and laptop computers, but its use changes in different places. In the US, more people now use macOS. As of March 2025, Windows is used on about 71.68% of desktops worldwide, macOS on 15.7%, Linux on 4.20%, and ChromeOS on 1.86%.

We don't know exactly how many desktop and laptop computers are sold because companies don't always share their counting methods. One group, StatCounter, estimates usage by looking at web visits, but this might not be perfect. Most computers come with an operating system already installed, but some people change it or use more than one.

Since around 2020, more people have been using smartphones than desktop or laptop computers. For example, in Africa, about 72% of people use smartphones, while in Europe it's about 49%. In the US, smartphones are used more on weekends.

Mobile devices

Smartphones OS by usage

See also: Mobile operating system § Market share

By early 2018, the main operating systems for smartphones were Google's Android and Apple's iOS. Together, they made up almost all smartphone use.

How much people use smartphones compared to desktop computers changes a lot from country to country. In places like Russia, only about 22% of all internet use is on smartphones, but in many western countries, smartphones make up about half of all internet use. This doesn't mean only half of people have smartphones; it just means other devices are used about as much. In developing countries, smartphone use is much higher – for example, in Bangladesh, Android smartphones made up around 84% of use.

There is a link between how wealthy a country is and which smartphone operating system people use. In richer countries, people are more likely to use Apple's iPhones, while Google's Android is more common elsewhere.

Tablet computers OS by usage

Tablet computers, or simply tablets, became an important part of the operating system market starting with Apple's iPad. By early 2018, iOS had about 65% of the market for tablets, and Android had about 35%. Some tablets running Windows might not be counted as tablets by some experts.

Since 2016, in South America (and Cuba in North America), Android tablets have become more common, and in Asia in 2017 Android was slightly more popular than the iPad. In Africa, Android tablets are much more popular, while in other places the iPad still leads.

As of March 2015, Android had been growing steadily and became the most popular tablet operating system. By 2025, iPadOS and Android tablets were about the same in how much they were used, as shown by StatCounter internet usage data in the following table.

Crossover to smartphones having majority share

See also: Usage share of web browsers § Crossover to smartphones having majority share

According to StatCounter web use statistics, smartphones are more popular than desktop computers around the world. When you include tablets with mobiles/smartphones, as they also run mobile operating systems, even in the United States mobiles including tablets are more popular than older operating systems made for desktops (such as Windows and macOS).

Although desktop computers are still used in many countries, smartphones are more popular even in many developed countries. A few countries on all continents have fewer people using desktops, with Android more popular than Windows.

The amount of mobile web use varies a lot by country. Smartphones (not counting tablets), first became more used than desktops in December 2016.

In the week of 7–13 November 2016, smartphones alone used more than desktops for the first time. Examples of countries where smartphones are more used than desktops include Paraguay in South America, Poland in Europe and Turkey and most of Asia and Africa.

According to StatCounter web use statistics, in the week from 7–13 November 2016, "mobile" (meaning smartphones) alone used more than desktops, for the first time.

According to StatCounter web use statistics, Saturday, 28 May 2016, was the day when smartphones became the most used platform.

The popularity of mobile use worldwide has been driven by the huge popularity increase of Android in Asian countries, where Android is the highest ranked operating system statistically in virtually every south-east Asian country.

Revenue

The region with the largest Android usage also has the largest mobile revenue.

Public servers on the Internet

Internet based servers have a market share that we can guess by looking at public servers such as web servers, mail servers, or DNS servers. We can see what operating systems these servers use by checking the messages they send. This helps us learn which operating systems are used on the internet, but only for servers that anyone can see.

The results can change depending on how we gather our information. Usually, these checks do not look at every server. Instead, they focus on servers found in other ways. Some websites might share one server, while others might need many servers or addresses.

Note

When we compare how much money different operating systems make, we need to remember that Linux is free. This means such comparisons might not show how popular Linux really is on servers. They might make other operating systems like Unix and Windows seem more popular than they are.

Mainframes

Mainframes are larger and stronger than most servers, but not as strong as supercomputers. They help manage large amounts of data, like enterprise resource planning or credit card transactions.

The most common operating system for mainframes is IBM's special z/OS. Other operating systems for IBM Z machines include Linux on IBM Z, z/TPF, VSE, and z/VM.

Like the change from personal computers to mobile devices today, in the 1980s and 1990s, many companies began using smaller servers instead of mainframes because they were less expensive and gave users more control. This resulted in fewer new mainframes being sold, mostly for important tasks in finance and government. Even though NASA stopped using its last mainframe in 2012, mainframes are still vital for many large businesses around the world.

Supercomputers

The TOP500 project lists the 500 fastest supercomputers. Since the early 1990s, most supercomputers have used Unix or Unix-like operating systems. Starting in 2017, every top 500 supercomputer uses Linux.

The last supercomputer to be the fastest while using an operating system other than Linux was ASCI White, which ran AIX. It was the fastest from November 2000 to November 2001.

Market share by category

The usage share of an operating system shows how many computers are using that system. These numbers are only estimates because it is hard to know exactly how many computers there are in the world. There aren't many reliable sources, and there is no standard way to collect this information.