Windows accounted for 71.18% of worldwide desktop web usage in July 2026, according to Statcounter, retaining a substantial lead but standing well below its roughly 80.8% share in October 2016. Over the same period, Apple’s desktop platforms and Linux have become much more visible in the browser-based measurement.
Statcounter lists OS X and macOS separately in its latest results, at 12.21% and 7.61% respectively. Combined, they represent about 19.82% of desktop web usage. Linux reached 7.53%, compared with 1.44% a decade earlier.
That does not mean Apple directly absorbed Windows users point for point. ChromeOS is now part of the wider PC landscape, and Statcounter has at times recorded a sizable Unknown category. Still, the longer-term trend is clear: Windows no longer has the near-monopoly in desktop web usage that it held in the mid-2010s.
- October 2016: Windows about 80.8%, Mac 10.88%, Linux 1.44%.
- October 2021: Windows 75.18%, Mac 15.89%, Linux 2.15%.
- August 2024: Windows 71.47%, Mac 15.45%, Linux 4.55%.
- July 2026: Windows 71.18%, combined OS X and macOS about 19.82%, Linux 7.53%.
These figures are not a census of installed PCs or a measure of hardware shipments. Statcounter’s desktop category includes laptops and is based on web traffic across more than one million sites and billions of monthly page views. That methodology makes the data useful for tracking web usage, while limiting what it can establish about the total installed base.
Microsoft’s own platform transition remains incomplete. In August 2026, Windows 11 represented 68.6% of Windows desktop usage in Statcounter’s data, while Windows 10 still accounted for 30.14%, nearly a year after its standard support ended. Windows 11’s TPM 2.0 and UEFI Secure Boot requirements have made migration more complicated for some older PCs, even where their day-to-day performance remains adequate.
Gaming remains a Windows stronghold
The picture changes sharply in PC gaming. Steam’s July 2026 Hardware & Software Survey reports Windows at 93.67% of participating systems, compared with 4.01% for Linux and 2.32% for macOS. The result underlines Windows’ continued advantage in game compatibility, drivers, DirectX support and anti-cheat coverage.
Apple’s 2020 transition from Intel processors to Apple Silicon gave the Mac platform a distinct hardware-and-software strategy, rather than one built around the same x86 processor suppliers as many Windows PCs. That shift coincides with the Mac’s stronger presence in desktop web-use data, though the market-share figures alone cannot isolate its effect from broader changes in PC buying and usage.
Linux’s latest 7.53% reading is also worth treating cautiously. It is a major increase from prior years, but recent movement in Statcounter’s Unknown category means several more months of data will be needed to determine whether the level is durable. SteamOS and Proton have raised Linux’s profile among players, while desktop distributions have become more accessible for mainstream browsing, development and productivity workloads.
Windows remains the default platform across a vast and diverse PC ecosystem, from low-cost laptops to workstations and gaming rigs. The more consequential change is that Mac and Linux now command enough desktop web usage that the global PC market looks less dependent on a single operating system than it did ten years ago.
