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Windows 11 is ahead of Windows 10 in Steam’s latest surfaced Hardware & Software Survey, for August 2026: it accounts for 70.97% of combined survey configurations, versus 22.90% for Windows 10. In the Windows-only breakdown, the figures are 75.53% and 24.37%, respectively. Linux and macOS/OSX are much smaller in the combined view, but the survey measures operating-system shares among participating Steam customers—not whether a platform matters to gamers overall.

What the August 2026 Steam survey says

Steam’s August 2026 report puts Windows 11 well ahead of Windows 10. The percentages differ depending on whether the denominator is all reported operating-system configurations or Windows configurations only, so the two views should not be mixed.

Operating system Share of combined configurations Share of Windows-only configurations
Windows 11 64-bit 70.97% — Steam, August 2026 75.53% — Steam, August 2026
Windows 10 64-bit 22.90% — Steam, August 2026 24.37% — Steam, August 2026
Linux 3.90% — Steam, August 2026 not stated in the cited Windows-only breakdown
macOS/OSX 2.14% — Steam, August 2026 not stated in the cited Windows-only breakdown
Windows, all versions 93.95% — Steam, August 2026 not stated as a single total in the cited Windows-only breakdown

The combined figures are shares of all configurations reported in the survey; the Windows-only figures are shares within Windows configurations. For that reason, Windows 11’s 70.97% combined share is not expected to match its 75.53% Windows-only share. These are survey shares, not counts of users or installed computers.

Windows 11’s lead is growing in the recent monthly figures

Steam’s Windows-version table shows Windows 11 rising and Windows 10 falling from April through August 2026. Each figure below is a share of Windows-only configurations in that month.

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Month Windows 11 64-bit Windows 10 64-bit
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From July to August, Windows 11 gained 0.52 percentage points in the Windows-only table, while Windows 10 lost 0.51 points. That is a change in percentage points, not a 0.52% relative increase. The five-month series shows the direction of recent movement, but it does not identify when Windows 11 first overtook Windows 10: both are already ahead in the earliest month shown.

Linux and macOS are smaller shares, not irrelevant platforms

In the combined August 2026 view, Linux represented 3.90% of reported configurations and macOS/OSX 2.14%, compared with Windows at 93.95%. That establishes a large difference in reported Steam survey share. It does not establish that Linux or macOS have no users, lack playable games, or have no strategic significance. The survey measures operating-system prevalence, not game compatibility, player satisfaction, or platform potential.

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Who the survey represents—and what it does not

Steam describes its process this way: “Steam conducts a monthly survey to collect data about what kinds of computer hardware and software our customers are using. Participation in the survey is optional, and anonymous.” The figures therefore describe configurations reported by participating Steam customers. Steam’s cited description does not state a response count, sampling frame, weighting method, or margin of error.

These results should not be generalized into a share of all PC gamers, all gamers, or the wider computer market. They are useful for understanding the operating-system mix represented in Steam’s monthly survey, with the stated denominator and month attached.

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Source and reporting date

The latest report surfaced for this article is Steam’s August 2026 Hardware & Software Survey. The combined platform figures and survey description appear on Steam’s survey page; the Windows-version trend is in Steam’s Windows detail table. August 2026 is the latest surfaced report, rather than a guarantee that no newer monthly report has since appeared.

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