Chromebooks started out as a niche product targeted at people looking for an affordable alternative to Mac and Windows PCs.

Now, they're growing in popularity at an impressive rate. Geekwire examined the data provided by IDC, and it found that Chromebooks actually outsold Macs in 2020, which is extremely impressive when you consider just how popular Apple's computers are.

Chromebooks Rise in Popularity

IDC analyst Mike Shirer confirmed to GeekWire that Chromebooks managed to outsell Macs throughout 2020, which is absurd and surprising.

Apple and Microsoft need to take notice, as Google is not going away with its computer operating system. Clearly, there's a lot about Chromebooks that is attractive to large swaths of the computer-buying public.

Outside of Apple and Microsoft, software developers need to look at Chromebooks, as they're very popular and worth creating software for. There's a considerable quantity of users with Chrome OS that are not being serviced with software.

Q2 2020 is where Chrome OS really grew, though. The market share for Windows fell to 81.7 percent, macOS rose to 7.6 percent, and Chrome OS jumped to 10 percent. That's no small amount of growth, and it does appear to be a sign of things to come for the computer space.

In the third and fourth quarter, Windows and Mac dropped even more, and Chrome OS continued to grow, rounding out a successful year for Google's OS. In Q3, Windows dropped to 78.9 percent and then 76.7 percent of the market share in Q4. Apple's macOS grew to 8.4 percent for Q3 and then fell back to 7.7 percent for Q4. At the same time, Chrome OS captured 11.5 percent of the market in Q3 and then 14.4 percent share in Q4.

When you look at the trends from 2019 to 2020, Windows dropped from 85.4 percent of the market share in 2019 to 80.5 percent in 2020. Macs saw growth, going from 6.7 percent in 2019 to 7.5 percent market share in 2020. But the most significant success came to Chrome OS, which went from 6.4 percent market share in 2019 to 10.8 percent in 2020.

The data includes all types of computers, so it's not just laptops (though for Chrome OS, Chromebooks are by far the most popular type of computer featuring the operating system).

Should You Consider a Chromebook?

If you're in the market for a new laptop, it might be time to give Chrome OS a chance. Not only does it come packed with all sorts of useful features, but it's clearly growing in popularity. That means you should see more software available for the OS and even more companies offering Chromebooks going forward.