Windows Drops Under 60% in Global Desktop OS Share
5 86StatCounter's June 2026 data shows Windows made up 56.55% of global desktop OS usage, dropping Microsoft's share below 60% for the first time in years. Linux, meanwhile, reached 4.39%, "one of its strongest recent showings in the company's desktop OS statistics," reports Linuxiac. From the report: Apple's desktop platforms also remain a major part of the picture. StatCounter lists OS X at 11.89% and macOS at 4.48% for June 2026, meaning Apple's combined desktop presence remains comfortably ahead of Linux in the global chart. Chrome OS follows with 1.21%.
Of course, StatCounter's numbers should be read for what they are: web usage statistics, not a direct count of installed operating systems. The company calculates its Global Stats from page views across websites using its tracking code, analyzing details such as browser, operating system, and screen resolution. In other words, the figures reflect measured web activity rather than the number of machines actually installed worldwide.
5 comments
"Unknown" risen to 20%, did Windows really decline (Score: 5, Insightful)
by Zarhan ( 415465 ) on Wednesday July 08, 2026 @03:03PM (#66228656)
Meaning that browsers are getting better at obscuring their OS. I mean, User-Agent string probably doesn't give anything meaningful these days anyway.
Re:"Unknown" risen to 20%, did Windows really decl (Score: 5, Interesting)
by unrtst ( 777550 ) on Wednesday July 08, 2026 @03:43PM (#66228724)
Especially since the decline in Windows was not accompanied by a meaningful rise for the other OSes.
The stats from TFS don't add up to anywhere near 100%. Turns out, the latest numbers have an "Unknown" bucket that's 21.45%, and its rising path almost matches the declining path of Windows in their graph. So either:
A) More and more Windows users are changing their user agent string to something unknown.
B) More and more Windows users are moving to another OS and using a browser with a user agent string that is unknown.
C) New user agent strings have shipped but the statcounter site hasn't updated its user agent detection
D) Combo of the above
My bet is "C" with some growth of Mac* and Linux usage. When the OS stat counter can't identify over 1/5th of browsers, I don't know if I'd put a whole lot of weight into it. That "Unknown" bucket should definitely be broken out more.
Re:"Unknown" risen to 20%, did Windows really decl (Score: 5, Funny)
by rossdee ( 243626 ) on Wednesday July 08, 2026 @03:39PM (#66228714)
Where can I download this Unknown OS
Re:"Unknown" risen to 20%, did Windows really decl (Score: 5, Interesting)
by afaiktoit ( 831835 ) on Wednesday July 08, 2026 @03:41PM (#66228720)
Unknown is probably AI agents
User Agent Switcher (Score: 5, Insightful)
by darkain ( 749283 ) on Wednesday July 08, 2026 @03:06PM (#66228660)
Anyone running non-Windows is most likely running an agent switcher because the number of bumfuck dumbass web sites still doing OS checks to see if a browser is compatible or not with their basic HTML bullshit. This is one of the absolute largest annoyances of the internet.