This article does not mention the release of the SteamDeck at all. I wonder if this could have had an impackt on Linux usage large enough to see in trends like these or if it's just a drop in the bucket.
According to Steam hardware survey https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/?platform=linux 35% of Steam Linux users have "AMD AMD Custom GPU 0405" (the custom amd chip used by steamdeck). ~1 year ago it was 21%. That gives an upper bound of 35% from those 4% being Steamdeck. Although actual fraction is probably lower because:
* not every Linux user plays games or uses Steam, but probably almost all Steamdeck users use Steam.
* StatCounter numbers are based on website views. You can browse web on steamdeck but it's not very convenient, so I guess that, unless it's their only computing device and they have connected external monitor and mouse, most steamdeck users do most of their web browsing using their phone or computer instead of steamdeck.
So no laptops? Isn’t Steam Deck really just a generic PC with a different form factor? Could (and should they even) StatCounter easily filter out the data coming from it
I believe that laptops are counted as desktops for this kind of stats. The split is by UI. Mobile is phone and tablets (same UI), laptops and desktops are desktop (same UI).
Servers are a case apart because especially for Windows they have the same UI as desktops even if Microsoft has a no GUI option now. I believe that nearly all Linux servers are command line only.
They're looking at browser traffic. I assume people don't do a lot of web browsing with Steam Decks (maybe I'm wrong, never used one), so they're probably not being counted.
Some data I found on the internet suggests Apple ships about 6 million Macs per quarter, and they're at around 15% market share in the stats linked here. Other data I found on the internet leads me to guess Valve has sold around 3 million Steam Decks in the 2 years since they launched.
So my guess is that if you factored Steam Decks into this they'd account for about another 1% - very roughly.
I've definitely browsed the web on my Steam Deck when I wanted to install a fan patch to a game, but I imagine I am in a small minority. Pretty sure the Steam Deck doesn't even ship with a browser, since I remember manually installing Firefox. And booting into the desktop mode has its own friction, and it's not exactly a smooth experience to use a Linux DE on the touchpads / touchscreen. These days I actually just opt to download everything on my actual desktop computer and just SSH them to the Steam Deck.
