Summary
The usage share of operating systems is the percentage of computing devices that run each operating system (OS) at any particular time. All such figures are necessarily estimates because data about operating system share is difficult to obtain. There are few reliable primary sources and no agreed methodologies for its collection. Operating systems are used in the vast majority of computers, from embedded devices to supercomputers. Most devices access the web, so web access statistics can be used to estimate the usage share of operating systems across device types, as well as the usage share of operating systems within types. Android, an operating system using the Linux kernel, is the world's most-used operating system when judged by web use. It has 42% of the global market, followed by Windows with 28%, iOS with 17%, macOS with 7%, ChromeOS 1.3%, then (desktop) Linux at 1.2% also using the Linux kernel. These numbers do not include embedded devices or game consoles. For smartphones and other pocket-sized devices, Android dominates with 71% market share, and Apple's iOS has 28%. For desktop and laptop computers, Microsoft's Windows is the most used at 69%, followed by Apple's macOS at 17%, and Google's ChromeOS at 3.2% (in the US up to 8.0%), and "desktop Linux" at 2.9%. In addition, 5% is attributed to "unknown" operating systems - which are likely forms of BSD or obscure varieties of Linux. For tablets, Apple's iPadOS (a variant of iOS) has 52% share and Android has 48% worldwide (Android is though more used in vast majority of countries; and on occasional days Android has measured even or ahead, up to 51.5% globally). For the above devices, smartphones and other pocket-sized devices make up 58%, desktops and laptops 40%, and tablets 2.0%. Smartphones have the most use in virtually all countries, including in the US at 51% there with PC operating systems (including Windows) down to 46%. Linux has completely dominated the supercomputer field since 2017, with all of the top 500 most powerful supercomputers in the world running a Linux distribution.
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