Good question, given that its not emulating the processor, but the win32 libraries, I had assumed it would show up under Apple not Intel.
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The overview doesn't show the "other" category for MacOS (which is the missing value). Linux is similarly messed up with many of the bigger distros missing. You have to look at the MacOS or Linux views for the full picture.
I get the sense the Steam Hardware Survey dashboard is not really maintained much anymore.
I think the over all percentages are correct in that windows is 94.84% and Mac/Linux make up the remainder.
Yes, those are correct, but the sub-percentages are missing categories so they don't add up to the totals overall.
Digging into this I see a lot of people on the PC-side also saying that the steam hardware survey doesn't capture their hardware right if there is both an iGPU and dGPU - although others saying their hardware is done correctly under similar circumstances. Sadly, it doesn't seem like the Steam Hardware Survey is terribly reliable in terms of data except for the simplest cases.
In another issue, I found some talking about how they never get sampled while others saying they get sampled multiple times a year - probably just random, even under a random system that's expected, but it's unclear if there is a bias in terms of who gets sampled. There is also a potential bias in response rates as well depending on your hardware - e.g. people with nicer hardware tend to participate more. One sees such a bias in benchmarking data where people with nicer, especially custom built, hardware tend to be the ones who voluntarily download and then bench their machines (especially intense graphics benchmarks), but I don't know if that would apply to the Steam Hardware survey per se. Maybe not.
So to recap specifically for Mac users: a potentially large percentage of Mac users are probably being counted as Windows users due to using CrossOver*, some of those may even be counted as Intel Macs when they have Apple Silicon, and the newer Beta Steam client may be reporting hardware correctly but it doesn't show up in the dashboard even under the Mac tab or something else weird is going on to remove a small percentage of Mac users from the hardware dashboard.
*To be clear, even if say 60% of Mac steam users tend to use their CrossOver launcher and respond to the survey through that launcher rather than the native Mac (and/or Beta native Mac AS) client, it would go from >2% to only >5% and I have no idea if it's anywhere near that high. Just an example to illustrate that compared to Windows, Mac users would still be very small, even if it would make a huge, gargantuan jump for Mac users.
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Linux has proton. So they get to use the native client to play windows games. The same can't be said for MacOS.
It's not really an apples to apples comparison there anymore since anyone using crossover on macOS shows up under the Windows figures.
I doubt the Linux numbers would be anywhere near 3% if it only counted people logging in to play native games. On top of that, the Linux percentages include the steam deck, skewing it even more.
Maybe I'm not understanding your point but Proton is Wine, playing games under proton is not native, its no different then Crossover (from a functional perspective). That's why there's the protondb, that details games compatibility, some games play better in Proton (and crossover) and others do not.
Here's my take away: With macos only showing 2% of the population, there is little motivation, or reason for game developers and publishers to port their games to the mac.
My point is that when Linux users use proton via their native client to play windows games they show up as Linux users on the survey. Mac users using Crossover show up as Windows users on the survey.
That's the difference.
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Just to add detail to @JordanNZ's post:
If a developer sells an official Mac CrossOver port of the game through Steam, then it would be no different. The Mac-Steam launcher should be able to launch the game. However, if the gamer is using CrossOver themselves, they can't wrap the individual game in CrossOver and still have the Mac Steam launcher recognize it. Instead, they have to launch the Windows Steam launcher inside the same CrossOver-Windows bottle as the Windows game(s) they want to run. Unlike for Mac and CrossOver, the majority if not near totality of Proton-compatible games have already been ported by Steam themselves so Linux users can simply use the native Linux client. Thus, when the Steam hardware survey comes around, every Linux user who responds gets counted as Linux users, but some, potentially high, proportion of Mac respondents get counted as Windows users.
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That’s probably accurate considering we’re likely to see an increase in Linux usage due to w10 going EoL and plenty of disdain for w11. (And switching to Linux doesn’t require buying a new PC)
Plus there’s the ever popular Steam Deck.
I only partially agree, you’re right in that it’s a small proportion of gamers on Mac (and imo, if someone’s affluent enough to afford a Mac, then it’s also likely they also could afford a gaming PC).
However, there’s a lot of support for iOS built in to the major game engines already, and the technology behind MacOS and iOS is nearly identical. If a game works on iOS there’s no reason it couldn’t be on MacOS.
Felix The Reaper for Mac is free on Epic.
Bulb Boy for Mac is free on Steam.
store.steampowered.com
Save 100% on Bulb Boy on Steam
One gloomy night, Bulb Boy wakes suddenly from a frightening nightmare to discover that evil has overshadowed the Bulbhouse. His family has disappeared and there are horrid monsters lurking in the shadows. Gather the courage and use his glass head to save everything he loves.
This is interesting. Something happened in October. Windows market share dropped to 66.14% from 70.81% and OS X increased to 14.27% from 8.33%. With other versions of macOS the total share is 18.42%.
I think there are two things going on here:
1) I've looked at this data before and there is a decent amount of random noise in it - "unknown" in particular fluctuates a lot.
2) There is a lot of reason to believe in real Mac growth as Windows 10 EOL'd and Windows 11 remains unpopular, there were multiple reports of Apple being one of the main beneficiaries of people upgrading their Windows machines and so Mac share was thought to increase in the last couple of months.
As such, it wouldn't surprise me if we see a slight shift back in the next few months to account for some random noise, but it also would surprise me if all of it, or even a lot of it, was erased completely. Apple likely picked up quite a few extra customers recently.
There's been a lot of articles, discussion over this, and in many cases enterprise going with Apple instead of with windows 11, never mind consumers switching
That chart is quite crappy. First, it splits it in "macOS" and "OS X", then there is "Unknown" that keeps getting higher. And OS X + macOS at Oct 2025 is just a bit higher than Oct 2024.
All that can be learned from that chart is that using browsers user agent on random websites to count operating system market shares is not reliable, and they didn't even make the basic steps of merging the user agents of all the browsers running on macOS.
Probably all the missing Windows part went to the "Unknown" section.
All that can be learned from that chart is that using browsers user agent on random websites to count operating system market shares is not reliable, and they didn't even make the basic steps of merging the user agents of all the browsers running on macOS.
Probably all the missing Windows part went to the "Unknown" section.
Don't think that's true because in Sep that Unknown number was the same, 11.33%. It should have increased by 4.67% to 16% if that was the case and not have stayed the same. No other number changed either, just OS X and Windows. In fact all the other numbers have slightly dropped too.
Here is another table showing that Win 10 share dropped by 2.7% while Win 11 increased by 2.28%. macOS increased market share seems to be thanks to Win users in general switching to Mac, not only Win 10 users.
In the US the increased market share for OS X is even larger, from 13.64% to 23.48%. With other versions of macOS the total share is 30.21%. Windows market share dropped from 64.12% to 58.36%. The other numbers for all other OSs (Linux, Chrome OS, Unknown) dropped slightly too. Only macOS increased significantly.
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More and more Windows users switch to Mac!
Perhaps this would have a positive impact on the Mac gaming market? With larger user base and more people and old Windows users wanting to game on their Macs the game developers could get more interested in the Mac market.
- In October OS X worldwide market share increased from 8.33% to 14.27%,. With other versions of macOS the total share is 18.42%. Windows market share dropped from 70.81% to 66.14%. The other numbers for all other OSs (Linux, Chrome OS, Unknown) dropped slightly too. Only macOS increased significantly.
- In the US in October OS X market share increased from 13.64% to 23.48%. With other versions of macOS the total share is 30.21%. Windows market share dropped from 64.12% to 58.36%. The other numbers for all other OSs (Linux, Chrome OS, Unknown) dropped slightly too. Only macOS increased significantly.
- The Mac user share on Steam has increased from 0.97% in Feb to 2.11% in Oct.
- The Mac installed base hit a new high (14.9%) in the last quarter with strong double-digit growth on both upgraders and customers new to Mac.
- Apple had the best June quarter ever for Mac in the enterprise. Organizations like PayPal and Roche are deploying more Macs for their workforce, continuing to invest in Apple products to drive employee innovation and productivity.
- Siam Commercial Bank, one of the largest Thai banks, has deployed thousands of iPads across corporate branches to enhance the quality and efficiency of their banking operations.
- The switch isn’t confined to the US. Tim Cook said that the MacBook Air was the top selling laptop model in all of China, while the Mac Mini became the top-selling desktop.
www.computerworld.com
Perhaps this would have a positive impact on the Mac gaming market? With larger user base and more people and old Windows users wanting to game on their Macs the game developers could get more interested in the Mac market.
- In October OS X worldwide market share increased from 8.33% to 14.27%,. With other versions of macOS the total share is 18.42%. Windows market share dropped from 70.81% to 66.14%. The other numbers for all other OSs (Linux, Chrome OS, Unknown) dropped slightly too. Only macOS increased significantly.
- In the US in October OS X market share increased from 13.64% to 23.48%. With other versions of macOS the total share is 30.21%. Windows market share dropped from 64.12% to 58.36%. The other numbers for all other OSs (Linux, Chrome OS, Unknown) dropped slightly too. Only macOS increased significantly.
- The Mac user share on Steam has increased from 0.97% in Feb to 2.11% in Oct.
- The Mac installed base hit a new high (14.9%) in the last quarter with strong double-digit growth on both upgraders and customers new to Mac.
- Apple had the best June quarter ever for Mac in the enterprise. Organizations like PayPal and Roche are deploying more Macs for their workforce, continuing to invest in Apple products to drive employee innovation and productivity.
- Siam Commercial Bank, one of the largest Thai banks, has deployed thousands of iPads across corporate branches to enhance the quality and efficiency of their banking operations.
- The switch isn’t confined to the US. Tim Cook said that the MacBook Air was the top selling laptop model in all of China, while the Mac Mini became the top-selling desktop.
Apple’s results show the Windows-to-Mac switch is happening
The Mac installed base hit a new high in the last quarter. And just where are those users coming from?
www.computerworld.com
People Switching To Mac Instead Of Windows 11 After Microsoft Ended Windows 10 Support
With Windows 10 support ending, 40% of global PCs still running it are driving an intense replacement cycle as organisations and consumers upgrade, according to Counterpoint Research.
www.thedailyjagran.com
