Summary
Windows 11 reached 1 billion users, up over 45% users year‑over‑year.
It hit 1 billion in 1,576 days, which is 130 days faster than Windows 10’s 1,706-day record.
The migration was likely driven by Windows 10 end‑of‑life, business upgrades, and holiday PC purchases.
Microsoft has had some real issues getting people onto Windows 11. Its older brother, Windows 10, held onto its userbase for as long as it possibly could, and recently lost its first-place spot to Windows 11. It’s impossible to tell for sure what caused this—it could be people warming to Windows 11, people leaving Windows 10 as it reached the end of non-security support, or a helping of both—but the truth is, Windows 11 is now king.
But how many people use Windows 11? Well, Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, has just revealed that the operating system has hit a major milestone. Not only has Windows 11 hit the billion-user mark, but it achieved its goal 130 days faster than it took Windows 10 to achieve the same thing.
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Windows 11 has reached 1 billion users, says Satya Nadella
People moved to the OS faster than they did with Windows 10
As spotted by The Verge, Satya Nadella held an earnings call for Microsoft for the last quarter. Satya took some time to go over how all of Microsoft’s portfolio is doing, but he had some excellent news for his Windows 11 division:
“Windows reached a big milestone, 1 billion Windows 11 users. Up over 45 percent year-over-year.”
Satya didn’t reveal exactly when Windows 11 managed to cross the milestone, but we can make a rough guess. During Microsoft Ignite on November 19th, Windows chief Pavan Davuluri revealed that Windows 11 had almost hit 1 billion users, so there’s a good chance that people got a lot of Windows PCs and laptops for Christmas.
The Verge claims that Windows 11 managed to hit the billion-user mark in 1,576 days. For comparison, Windows 10 managed it in 1,706 days, 130 days slower than Windows 11. And while it’s very difficult to accurately state why Windows 11 managed to reach its goal faster, we can make an educated guess.
It’s important to note that the 1 billion user claim includes both personal and business licenses. As such, we can look into what caused people to flee Windows 10 on both a user and company level. My personal guess is Windows 10’s end-of-life date in October 2025, which stopped the OS from receiving non-security updates as long as users signed up for extended support.
Users probably migrated over to receive new features, and businesses likely made the jump to take advantage of the new productivity tools Microsoft has been publishing lately. Plus, both people and companies likely refreshed some of their old hardware for the new year, which added new Windows 11 devices into the mix. Whatever the reason, it seems that Windows 10 has finally met its match.