Ars Technica
For ages now, each annual report on desktop working system market share has had the identical prime two contenders: Microsoft’s Home windows in a commanding lead at primary and Apple’s macOS in distant second place. However in 2020, Chrome OS grew to become the second-most fashionable OS, and Apple fell to 3rd.
That is in line with numbers from market knowledge agency IDC and a report on IDC’s knowledge by publication GeekWire. Chrome OS had handed macOS briefly in particular person quarters earlier than, however 2020 was the primary full 12 months when Apple’s OS took third place.
Even supposing macOS landed in third, viewing this for instance of Google beating out Apple instantly won’t be correct. Fairly, it is doubtless that Chrome OS has been primarily pulling gross sales and market share away from Home windows on the low finish of the market. Mac market share really grew from 6.7 p.c in 2019 to 7.5 p.c in 2020.
In the meantime, Chrome OS skyrocketed from 6.4 p.c in 2019 to 10.8 p.c in 2020. Home windows fell from 85.4 p.c to 80.5 p.c.
The pattern seems to be to be in Google’s favor right here, however 2020 was removed from a standard 12 months. Final month, IDC’s report on PC gross sales confirmed the primary 12 months of consistent growth of conventional PC (desktop, laptop computer, workstation) gross sales in years. Even then, IDC indicated that the rise in gross sales was pushed largely by the enlargement of Chromebooks each inside and out of doors of the training market.
As college students in lots of communities have needed to attend class nearly from residence and their dad and mom have needed to do work remotely, too, PC gross sales jumped throughout the 12 months. Chrome OS was an enormous a part of that. However all the market grew general, not simply Chrome OS. IDC additionally famous that gaming PCs had been an enormous driver of development, as was a very sturdy 12 months for the Mac.
As among the world could discover a new type of post- or late-pandemic normalcy later this 12 months or subsequent 12 months, new gross sales figures will give a clearer indication of the place issues will go sooner or later, not simply how they went in 2020. However at the very least within the training area, the way forward for Chrome OS seems to be pretty brilliant.
