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It happens like clockwork, around the first of each month. Sites that focus on technology churn out nearly identical articles, all based on a chart prepared by the good folks at Statcounter Global Stats. Here's the latest chart, covering the 12 months ending June 30, 2025.
Every month, tech bloggers try to turn a chart like this one into a story, but most of them miss what's actually happening. Statcounter GS
I saw that chart in dozens of posts this month, along with detailed explanations of what the author thought the underlying data points mean. Sometimes the authors of these posts even convince an industry analyst to share their thoughts. It's stereotypical horserace coverage.
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This month, the challenge for every pundit was to explain why Windows 10 (the purple line at the top) appears to be suddenly collapsing in popularity and why Windows 11 (the blue line in the middle) has regained its mojo.
Here's a small sampling of some of the stories that the Statcounter "Windows market share" report inspired.
At the start of every month, stories like these appear, all based on the same charts. Screenshot by Ed Bott/ZDNET
Windows 11 is spiking! It's surging! It's finally caught up with Windows 10! My favorite quote from this batch is from Forbes, which published this head-spinning word salad: "Windows 11 has finally caught Windows 10's market share after years of frustration. Data to the end of June, courtesy of Statcounter, shows the two neck and neck - with less than a percentage point between them. Given this data is not exact, that's within any statistical margin of error. We can say the milestone has been reached." (Huh?)
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