It might be uncanny to take in at first, but it seems that Chrome OS has become the second-most popular operating system in the world right now, sprinting out just ahead of Apple’s macOS.
For as long as one can remember, the annual desktop operating system’s market reports always saw two figures on the top, with Windows being the leader and macOS following the scene just behind. A significant change is out and about currently, and what the future now may hold is genuinely interesting.
According to IDC’s findings—a global market intelligence provider, 2020 marks the beginning of Chrome OS’s victory over Apple’s famous operating system.
IDC broke down the full year of 2020 into 4 quarters to evaluate the data and market share results. In the first quarter, Windows amassed a giant market share of 87.5%, while macOS landed 5.8% and Chrome OS clutched a mere 5.3%. However, that was just the beginning of the incoming change.
Data Source: IDC
In Q2 2020, Windows share fell to 81.7%, macOS’s elevated to 7.6%, while Chrome OS gained 10.0%. Following Q3, macOS was only able to accumulate 8.4%, while Chrome OS got 11.5% of the market share. Lastly, in the final quarter of the fiscal year, macOS’s share dropped to 7.7%, while Chrome OS enjoyed 14.4% of the total share. The chart above shows the final standings for the year 2020.
That said, Chromebooks have also come very far from what they once were. Today, we have devices like the Google Pixelbook Go and the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 to our avail that do nothing but impress and bring great value for money. However, we still have to factor in one significant fact – 2020 was everything but ordinary.
The pandemic of the novel Coronavirus has to be taken into account here, as schools and colleges resorted to remote learning and Chrome OS became much more of a trend. Due to the outbreak originating from China, the country took a colossal hit in terms of PC supply. As time progressed, limitations and similar issues were addressed, but market share had fallen considerably by then.
Chrome OS desktop
Before the Coronavirus, Chromebooks sold good numbers in the USA, particularly in its schools and classrooms. But as we had seen results from IDC in 2020, Chrome OS has gone much beyond and is now on its way to becoming a global sensation. However, the big question is: will this minimalistic operating system keep up its performance and sales after things go back to normal?
This is something for everyone to ponder. While Google can enjoy this feat momentarily, certain people will be working hard and developing newer strategies to make sure this victory is short-lived. We can all expect switching up game plans over at Microsoft and Apple alike.
