Nearly 1 billion PCs remain on Windows 10 — Has Windows 11 adoption hit a wall?

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Roughly one billion PCs are not running Windows 11, according to the latest earnings call from Dell.

Surface Pro 6
Around 1 billion PCs are still running Windows 10. (Image credit: Future)

Windows 10 support ended in October, but around 1 billion PCs are still running the operating system. That figure comes from Dell's latest earnings call and suggests Microsoft will have an uphill battle to convert users to the latest version of the operating system.

"We have about 500 million of them capable of running Windows 11 that haven't been upgraded," said Dell COO Jeffrey Clarke during the company's Q3 earnings call. "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."

Windows 10 Update

Many Windows 10 PCs cannot upgrade to Windows 11 due to the strict hardware requirements of the newer OS. (Image credit: Future)

At one point, a mass migration to Windows 11 was expected before the operating system's end of support. But that shift may have been delayed by Microsoft offering a year of Windows 10 security updates for free.

Even if the approximately 500 million PCs that can upgrade are updated eventually, there will still be roughly an additional 500 million PCs stuck on Windows 10, according to Dell. Clarke said the situation presents "rich opportunities to upgrade towards Windows 11 and modern technology."

While newer devices have many improvements compared to aging PCs, many are upset about systems from this decade already losing support.

Some users have looked outside Microsoft's ecosystem due to the end of Windows 10 support. A developer of Zorin OS, a Linux distro, shared that approximately 780,000 users had moved from Windows 10 to the Linux distro since Microsoft ended support for Windows 10.

Windows lead Pavan Davuluri said during Microsoft Ignite that almost 1 billion people rely on Windows 11. Davuluri did not mention that the number could surge to 2 billion people if Microsoft changed the hardware requirements for Windows 11 or could convince people to upgrade around 500 million eligible PCs.

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Sean Endicott
Sean Endicott
News Writer and apps editor

Sean Endicott is a tech journalist at Windows Central, specializing in Windows, Microsoft software, AI, and PCs. He's covered major launches, from Windows 10 and 11 to the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT. Sean's journey began with the Lumia 930, leading to strong ties with app developers. Outside writing, he coaches American football, utilizing Microsoft services to manage his team. He studied broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent University and is active on X @SeanEndicott_ and Threads @sean_endicott_.

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