Apple's macOS saw a dramatic upturn in 2022 worldwide

AppleInsider

Adoption of macOS has steadily risen in recent months to become the second most-used operating system in the world - and December was a turning point.

Apple's macOS is in second place for worldwide adoption

Recent statistics provided by StatCounter analyze the global market share of desktop operating systems between June 2022 and June 2023. Windows remains the dominant player with a 68.15% share, but macOS has secured the second position with a noteworthy adoption rate of 21.38%.

This surpasses the adoption rates of Chrome OS and Linux by a significant margin, which have rates of 4.15% and 3.08%, respectively. At 3.23%, an unidentified operating system exists ahead of Linux, but that may be an undetected Windows update.

The pattern of macOS adoption is interesting, as depicted on the chart. It indicates a minor decline from June 2022 to August 2022, followed by an upturn from August to October and another decrease leading to December. However, from that point onwards, macOS has consistently experienced a gradual increase in adoption.

Although Apple didn't launch new Macs in December 2022, it did in January 2023 with the release of MacBook Pro models running M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. The purchase of these high-performance computers might have increased the adoption of macOS, as this operating system is exclusive to Macs.

There are plenty of reasons for the increase in macOS adoption. For example, it's known for its sleek design and user-friendly interface, providing users with a visually appealing and intuitive experience.

Additionally, macOS is highly regarded for its seamless integration with other Apple devices and services, creating a cohesive ecosystem. Apple also focuses on security and privacy, with features like Gatekeeper, FileVault, and encryption, which may resonate with users who want a secure operating system.

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40domi

I realise businesses are still willing to compromise on the cheap windows infrastructure.
From a personal point of view, I moved to MacOS, 5 years ago and after the initial 2 months adaptation, would never go back to windows.
Mac's aren't perfect and they're expensive, but you do get value for money in my opinion, effectively they're only more expensive at the front end and it's night and day as far as user experience is concerned!
In a world with so much virtue signalling about health & safety, it's amazing how many companies, still use cheap bad for your eyes office lighting and screens 😏

danox

Don’t worry, the EU is working on reversing that trend…….

chasm

It’s fascinating to me that the “unknown” OS almost *precisely* mirrors the change in Windows’ popularity. Kind of silly that StatCounter can’t figure out what this suddenly-insurgent OS is …

Marvin

chasm said:

It’s fascinating to me that the “unknown” OS almost *precisely* mirrors the change in Windows’ popularity. Kind of silly that StatCounter can’t figure out what this suddenly-insurgent OS is …

They track website visits and they can only know what an OS is based on how the computer visiting the site identifies itself, usually via user-agent string.

https://gs.statcounter.com/detect

If a web user is using a privacy tool like a VPN, proxy or encrypted network, it won't always identify itself correctly so it's not an unknown OS, it's just that statcounter doesn't know which OS is being used, it could be any of them.

The spike can happen due to governments blocking access to sites. Utah started requiring verification for adult sites in May, which led to a surge in VPN usage but it would be more likely caused by countries listed on the following page:

https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/internet-censorship-map/

skingers

What's interesting about this is that people often confuse "new unit market share" with "in use" share.  Macs are only around 8% of the units sold worldwide and yet Mac os is running at over 20% in use share.  Why?  I assume this means the replacement rate for PCs is much greater - IE Macs last longer and do not need to be replaced as often.  It's really the only way that in use share can outpace units sold share.  What's significant about this is that for software developers 8% does not sound all that interesting but 21% and growing certainly does.

Marvin

skingers said:

What's interesting about this is that people often confuse "new unit market share" with "in use" share.  Macs are only around 8% of the units sold worldwide and yet Mac os is running at over 20% in use share.  Why?  I assume this means the replacement rate for PCs is much greater - IE Macs last longer and do not need to be replaced as often.  It's really the only way that in use share can outpace units sold share.  What's significant about this is that for software developers 8% does not sound all that interesting but 21% and growing certainly does.

The same thing happens with iPhones where they get handed down to family members. Even 10 year old Macs can run as well as the day they were bought. PCs are ready for the trash in 3 years, some within weeks of leaving the store. This is going to get even better with the Apple Silicon Macs. They already have good prices:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1668190-REG/apple_mk1a3ll_a_16_2_macbook_pro_with.html (16" 32GB/1TB M1 Max, XDR display, $2599)
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1668246-REG/apple_mbp_14_sg_46_14_2_macbook_pro_with.html (14" 64GB/2TB M1 Max, XDR display, $2699)

This goes up against the likes of this:

https://www.amazon.com/Razer-Blade-Gaming-Laptop-Thunderbolt/dp/B0BTQLKPYD/ (15" i7/4070 16GB/1TB, 8GB VRAM, $2799)

and the fan noise sounds like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldk6nb1MXXM&t=771s

The 15" Air is a perfect laptop and already very affordable. Once there are discount deals on those after people upgrade to M3, the Mac user base will grow by a large amount.