Windows 11 surpassed Windows 10 in terms of user adoption

Windows 11 surpassed 1 billion users for the first time in the holiday quarter. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced the milestone during the company's financial report for the second quarter of fiscal year 2026.

The Verge reports.

Windows 11 surpassed Windows 10's pace

Nadella stated that the Windows 11 user base grew by over 45% year over year. Although Microsoft did not disclose the exact number of active devices, the company confirmed that the one billion mark was reached in the fourth quarter of 2025.

On November 19, at the Microsoft Ignite conference, Pavan Davuluri, head of the Windows division, announced that nearly one billion people use Windows 11. This suggests a potential surge in the user base by the end of December.

Windows 11 took 1,576 days to reach one billion users. For comparison, it took Windows 10 1,706 days to reach this milestone, meaning the new OS version achieved the same result approximately four months faster.

One factor driving the transition is the end of Windows 10 support, scheduled for October 14, 2025. After this date, the system will no longer receive standard security updates or technical support, prompting users to upgrade to Windows 11 or update their computers.

Microsoft also reported an increase in Windows OEM revenue in its financial report, which is usually associated with an increase in shipments of devices with the operating system pre-installed.

Microsoft initially aimed for Windows 10 to reach 1 billion devices within three years of its release, but these plans changed, partly due to the discontinuation of Windows Phone.  In contrast, Windows 11 is only available for PCs and is positioned as a platform for new features, including Copilot integration and artificial intelligence tools.

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