Microsoft's Windows was the dominant desktop operating system (OS) worldwide as of March 2025, with a market share of around 72 percent. Apple’s Mac operating system has gained market share over the years, growing to command around a fifth of the market. Linux and Google's Chrome OS have retained small but stable market shares in recent years. Different versions of Microsoft Windows From its initial release in 1985, Microsoft Windows has gone through endless mutations. Notable versions include Windows 95, Windows XP, and Windows 7. Windows 11 is the newest addition to the family, being able to run on PCs, tablets and embedded devices. In 2022, approximately 65 million PCs were shipped with Windows operating systems installed. Apple’s Mac operating system With an equally long history, Apple’s Mac operating system (macOS, previously Mac OS X and OS X) has also evolved through numerous releases. The most recent version, macOS Ventura, is the nineteenth release of macOS. A older version of macOS, Catalina, is currently the most popular macOS, now run on 87.4 percent of Apple computers as of January 2023. macOS runs on Apple’s Mac computers, including the MacBook, which is Apple’s laptop PC product including the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, and the iMac – Apple’s desktop computer.

As of December 2023, Windows was ranked first among the leading desktop operating systems in Norway, with just over 70 percent of the market share while Apple's OS X ranked second with over 15 percent of the market share.

As of December 2024, Google Chrome accounted for around 66 percent of the global desktop internet browser market share. Around half of the world’s population uses the internet on a regular basis, and web browsers serve as the channel through which users from across the globe access the internet each day.  What are people using their web browsers for?   With the help of a web browser, users can access a huge variety of content including entertainment sites, social media, and online shopping retailers. In recent years, social media sites such as Facebook have become some of the most frequently visited sites in the world, with users determined to keep up to date with the digital presence of their friends, families, and favorite celebrities. Privacy concerns   Web browsers provide users with an integral digital service, but recent data leaks have alerted users to the pitfalls of putting too much personal data online. A great number of people are becoming aware of and concerned about their online privacy, meaning that web browser developers must prove themselves capable of protecting information if they hope to receive the continued loyalty of their users.

Apple and Microsoft command over a 90 percent share of the desktop operating system market in the United Kingdom (UK), as of 2024. Microsoft’s product, Windows, held 68.24 percent of the market, while Apple’s macOS held 23.65 percent. Browsers and search engines used on desktops Desktop searches made up 49 percent of search engine activity as of April 2023, ahead of the 46 percent held by mobile phones. Google is not only the preferred search engine for 86.3 percent of UK desktop users, it is also the developer of Chrome, the preferred browser for 59 percent of internet users in the UK. Share of households with home computers steady The share of households with home computers in the UK has remained steady since 2015-16, with 88 percent of households owning such a machine according to the UK Office for National Statistics. The average weekly retail sales value of computers and telecommunications in the UK amounted to 96.8 million British pounds in October 2023.

In 2023, Windows was the leading desktop operating system in Italy with a 76 percent share of the market. Window's market share has, however, decreased since the start of the given period in 2010 when they obtained 91.93 percent of the market.

PC market in Italy

As a result of the events of the past years, the revenue of the PC market in Italy fluctuated. By 2024, it is forecast to reach under four billion euros. Naturally, the share of personal computer users in Italy also increased, going from 54.9 percent in 2019 to 57.2 in 2022. Most of them were aged between 20 and 24 years old and were university or Ph.D. students.

Italian tablet market

Despite their initial popularity, tablet market revenue is expected to fall in the next years. For instance, in 2028, such revenue is expected to amount to around 760 million U.S. dollars, down from over 921 million U.S. dollars in 2016. Tablet users in Italy mostly owned Apple and Samsung tablets, with Samsung occupying over 36 percent of the tablet vendor market with Android being the most used tablet operating system.

In Brazil, in 2023, approximately 88 percent of desktop devices operated on Windows, and the remaining were shared between OS X (3.7 percent) and Linux (2.6 percent). Apple ranked second also in the mobile device operating system market, where it held a significantly lower market share compared to Android.

The overall market leader in the global personal computer market in 2023 was Lenovo with a market share of 25.5 percent with HP Inc. in at second with a 21.6 percent share. In terms of unit shipments, Lenovo recorded 62.5 million, while HP Inc. had around 53.03 million.

Windows 10 is the most popular Windows desktop operating system, accounting for a market share of around 54 percent as of March 2025. The share of devices running the older Windows 7 OS has slipped over the past year, with the newer Windows 43 running on around 31 percent of devices. A global dominance in computer operating systems Microsoft’s Windows is the most widely used computer (desktop, tablet, and console) operating system (OS) in the world with more than 68 percent of the market share. It's closest competitors — Apple's macOS and iOS — hold a combined less than 20 percent of the market. Despite its dominance in the computer OS market, Microsoft has been unable to have the same impact on the mobile OS market, where Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS split the market with a combined share of over 99 percent. Operating systems   Operating systems are the underlying platforms connecting computer hardware and software. They provide users with the graphical interface that enables them to issue commands and perform tasks on electronic devices. Almost every device today — from smartphones and desktop computers, to graphical calculators — requires an operating system to function.

In December 2024, Microsoft's Edge browser had a market share of 13.34 percent in the United States. Edge was first publicly released in July 2015, with the consumer release of Windows 10. However, Chrome held a majority of the market share, with almost 66 percent in the same month. What are web browsers? A web browser is a software application for visualizing websites, documents and data. The most popular current browsers are Google Chrome, Apple’s Safari, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox. Historically one of the large players in the segment, Internet Explorer has unfortunately lost its tight grip on the web browser market.As shown by the graph at hand, Google Chrome has been the most popular browser in the United States since December 2013. In other countries, Google Chrome has also taken up a dominating role. In the European browser market, Chrome and Safari have established strong market positions with 61 and 11.4 percent, respectively. On a worldwide scale, Chrome provided a share of around 64 percent in the global web browser market as of December 2021.

As of December 2024, Windows had the largest market share, among leading desktop operating systems in Sweden with over 69 percent. OS X ranked second with more than 15 percent of the market share.

As of January 2025, online search engine Bing accounted for 12.23 percent of the global desktop search market, while market leader Google had a share of around 78.83 percent. Meanwhile, Yahoo's market share was 3.07 percent. Google in the global market Ever since the introduction of Google Search in 1997, the company has dominated the search engine market, while the shares of all other tools has been rather lopsided. The majority of Google revenues are generated through advertising. Its parent corporation, Alphabet, was one of the biggest internet companies worldwide as of 2023, with a market capitalization of 1,6 trillion U.S. dollars. The company has also expanded its services to mail, productivity tools, enterprise products, mobile devices, and other ventures. As a result, Google earned one of the highest tech company revenues in 2023 with roughly 305.6 billion U.S. dollars. Search engine usage in different countries Google is the most frequently used search engine worldwide. But in some countries, its’ alternatives are leading or competing with it to some extent. As of the last quarter of 2023, more than 63 percent of internet users in Russia used Yandex, whereas Google users were nearly 36 percent. Meanwhile, Baidu was the most used search engine in China, despite a strong percentage decrease of internet users in the country accessing it. In other countries, like Japan and Mexico, people tend to use Yahoo along with Google. In the first quarter of 2022 nearly 56 percent of the respondents in Japan said that they had used Yahoo in the past four weeks. In the same year, over 27 percent of users in Mexico said they used Yahoo. Another search engine, Bing, operated by Microsoft, was the second most popular search engine in the United Kingdom after Google.

As of December 2023, Windows held the highest share of the desktop operating systems market in the Philippines. The operating system accounted for about 84 percent of the total market share as of this period. In comparison, desktop devices with an Apple OS held 5.14 percent of the total market share.

In 2022, Dell led the Brazilian desktop PC market, holding nearly half of the market, with 40 percent market share. Apple and HP ranked second and third, occupying 22 and 13 percent of the market, respectively. By contrast, Beelink only accounted for two percent of the desktop PC market in Brazil.

In the year ending March 2021, Lenovo held a 22.3 percent share of the global PC market revenue, with its closest competitor HP holding 21.3 percent of the market. Dell, who ranked third among vendors, accounted for 16 percent of the global PC market sales revenue during that time.

As of December 2023, Windows ranked first among leading desktop operating systems in Denmark and had more than 72 percent of the market share. OS X ranked second and had around 21 percent of the market share.

In the last quarter of 2024, Lenovo's market share of global PC shipments stood at 26.3 percent, whilst HP Inc. took a 21.3 percent share of the market. Acer had the lowest market share among the PC vendors.

As of 2024, around 84.94 percent of desktop devices in Indonesia operated on Windows, the highest share among the other operating systems. The market share of Windows OS in Indonesia has been continuously increasing since 2018. In comparison, Apple OS accounted for approximately 6.04 percent of the total market share.

As of December 2024, Windows 10 was the most popular version of the operating system on desktop devices in Finland. The latest Windows version, Windows 11, ranked second with a market share of over 22.98 percent.

In October 2024, Windows was the leading operating system for desktop devices in Hungary, with a market share of 83 percent. OS X ranked second, accounting for nearly six percent of the market.

With a market share of almost 71.9 percent, Windows was the most popular desktop operating system in Japan in January 2024. It was followed by OS X, which accounted for a market share of 14.8 percent.