The world’s second most popular desktop operating system is no longer macOS

For ages now, every annual desktop operating system market share report has had the same two main contenders: Microsoft’s Windows at number one and Apple’s macOS at number two. But in 2020, Chrome OS became the second most popular operating system, and Apple fell to third.

This is according to figures from market data company IDC and a report on IDC data by the publication GeekWire. Chrome OS had briefly passed macOS in individual quarters previously, but 2020 was the first full year when Apple’s operating system took third place.

Despite the fact that macOS landed in third place, seeing this as an example of Google directly beating Apple might not be correct. On the contrary, it is likely that Chrome OS mainly drove Windows sales and market share in the low end of the market. The Mac market share actually increased from 6.7% in 2019 to 7.5% in 2020.

Meanwhile, Chrome OS has gone from 6.4% in 2019 to 10.8% in 2020. Windows has gone from 85.4% to 80.5%.

The trend seems to be in Google’s favor here, but 2020 was far from a normal year. Last month, IDC’s PC Sales Report showed the first year of steady growth in sales of traditional PCs (desktop, laptop, workstation) in years. Even so, IDC said the increase in sales was largely due to the expansion of Chromebooks both inside and outside the education market.

As students in many communities had to attend classes virtually from home and their parents had to work remotely as well, PC sales surged during the year. Chrome OS was a big part of it. But the whole market has grown overall, not just Chrome OS. IDC also noted that gaming PCs were a big driver of growth, as well as a particularly strong year for the Mac for various use cases.

As some countries around the world might find a new kind of post-pandemic or late normalcy later this year or next, the new sales figures will give a clearer indication of where things are going in the future, and not just how it turned out in 2020. But at least in education, the future of Chrome OS looks pretty bright.