Windows users are shifting to Windows 11 much more slowly than they upgraded to Windows 10.
Even though Windows 10 has now reached the end of its support period, it remains extremely popular among both regular users and businesses. Dell recently shared that about 500 million PCs that can upgrade to Windows 11 are still choosing to stay on Windows 10.
Dell’s COO, Jeffrey Clarke, said during the company’s Q3 earnings call that around 500 million machines in the overall PC market are fully capable of running Windows 11 but have not upgraded. He added that there are another 500 million PCs that are about four years old and cannot run Windows 11 because they don’t meet the hardware requirements. Clarke sees this as a chance to encourage customers to move toward new Windows 11 devices and AI-powered PCs, but he also warned that the PC market is likely to remain flat next year.
This is the first time we have heard such a large number linked to people avoiding the move to Windows 11, and an equally large number of devices that simply cannot upgrade. Microsoft raised the hardware requirements for Windows 11, leaving behind many PCs sold over the past decade.
It was expected that people with older machines would stay on Windows 10 because they had no choice, but the OS has turned out to be much stickier than expected. Both home users and commercial customers are continuing to rely on Windows 10 despite its age and the end of support.
The new information from Dell comes shortly after Microsoft’s Windows chief, Pavan Davuluri, said that nearly a billion people rely on Windows 11. However, it is not clear what rely means in this context, since Microsoft has not provided specific device numbers as it used to in the past.
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