Windows 11 Market Share Hits Record High As Windows 10 Heads Out To Pasture
It's been four years and four months since Microsoft released Windows 11 to the wild. In the time since, it hasn't exactly ingratiated itself with a majority of users, especially those who are still clinging to Windows 10, but it has been able to capture more than a third of the overall Windows PC market. It also just got a nice boost in market share as Windows 10 inches closer to its end of support date.
According to the bean counters at StatCounter, Windows 11 now accounts for 36.65% of all Windows PCs, versus 34.12% at the end of 2024. It's also up a good chunk from its 27.83% share from the beginning of last year.
The recent gain represents one of the biggest month-to-month leaps in the past year. It also ascends Windows 11 to its highest market share yet, eclipsing the previous high of 35.58% at the end of October 2024. So what gives?
For the most part, Windows 11 has been on a steady upwards trajectory, as you would expect as more time passes. However, the most recent surge comes on the heels of Microsoft imploring nearly half a billion Windows users to buy a new PC. It made the pitch in a blog post declaring 2025 as "the year of the Windows 11 PC refresh." The blog post also served as a reminder that Windows 10 will, for all intents and purposes, be put out to pasture later this year.
"We recently confirmed that after providing 10 years of updates and support, Windows 10 will reach the end of its lifecycle on Oct. 14, 2025. After this date, Windows 10 PCs will no longer receive security or feature updates, and our focus is on helping customers stay protected by moving to modern new PCs running Windows 11. Whether the current PC needs a refresh, or it has security vulnerabilities that require the latest hardware-backed protection, now is the time to move forward with a new Windows 11 PC," Microsoft wrote.
Curiously enough, even though Windows 10 is now on a fast track to retirement, Microsoft is still releasing new features for the OS. In a recent Windows 10 Preview build, Microsoft introduced a retooled Calendar experience in the toolbar. The latest build also makes a new Outlook for Windows app the free default mail app in Windows 10.
It will be interesting to see if Windows 11's market share continues to surge in the coming months. It stands to reason that more users will upgrade, either their OS (if their PC hardware supports it) or either entire system as support for Windows 10 starts to wind down.
