With little more than 100 days until the end of Windows 10, Microsoft has just hit a huge milestone that’s been years in the making. This changes the PC landscape and follows years of warnings and nags. At times it seemed we’d never get here.
Windows 10’s vast user base has proven remarkably stubborn and difficult to move. This is not helped by the hardware hurdles in upgrading a PC to Windows 11, which means at least 240 million users — likely more — need to buy a new device.
Last week, I reported that Windows 11 was finally closing the gap, with a surge in upgrades. Today, for the first time Windows 11’s global share matches that of Windows 10. That means it will overtake it within days, finally dominating the market.
Last year the trickle of upgrades moved back and forth, creating some heartburn in the cyber community, as the prospect of a security nightmare with hundreds of millions of Windows users running unsupported PCs started to seem very real.
Even as recently as April this year, Windows 11 saw a surprising reversal, as it seemed to win back some market share at its newer sibling’s expense. All this data comes courtesy of Statcounter and won’t be exact, but will be directional. It’s all we have.
This Windows 11 overtake has already happened in the U.S. and some other key markets, but most markets have dragged. But it’s now increasingly likely eligible PCs will be pushed to Windows 11 anyway, and others will be nagged until PCs are changed.
At the end of last May, Statcounter reported that Windows 11 (43.22%) still lagged Windows 10 (53.19%) by around 10% — that’s around 150 million users. Now just three weeks later, both versions of Windows are dead level on 47.65%.
We’ve seen u-turns before, but this does finally look like the surge needed to isolate those PCs that can’t upgrade and outline the size of the problem that will hit on October 14. Whether you need an upgrade or a new PC, don’t let your device fall off support.
