It seems that Windows 10 is still installed on one billion PCs, even though Microsoft officially ended support for the operating system last October.
“We have about 500 million of them capable of running Windows 11 that haven’t been upgraded,” said Jeffrey Clarke, COO of Dell, during the company’s third-quarter financial results presentation.
“And we have another 500 million that are four years old that can’t run Windows 11. Those are all rich opportunities to upgrade towards Windows 11 and modern technology. Equally important AIPCs,” Clarke added.
The Shift to Windows 11 Is Slower Than Expected
The numbers cited by Clarke, while impressive, show a notable improvement compared to previous months. In July, a study indicated that 50% of all PCs were still using Windows 10, and Windows 11 only overtook it in June.
The end of support for Windows 10 was expected to strongly push upgrades to Windows 11, but it seems that the transition is happening more slowly than anticipated. This is partly because Microsoft decided to extend security update releases for another year.
Pavan Davuluri, head of Windows, stated during Microsoft Ignite that nearly one billion people are already using Windows 11. However, he did not mention that this number could double if Microsoft decided to change the hardware requirements or successfully convinced users with compatible devices to upgrade.
