Microsoft proudly announces that Windows 11 has reached one billion users, but this does not lead to an increase in market share.
“Windows has reached a major milestone: 1 billion Windows 11 users,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella proudly said during a call with investors. That is 45 percent more than a year ago. Windows 11 reaches the symbolic milestone thanks to a final sprint in the last quarter of the year, partly due to the end of support for Windows 10 in October.
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1,576 days
Although Windows 11 has had to struggle for a long time to lure souls away from Windows 10, it has reached that one billion users faster. Windows 11 took exactly 1,576 days to do so, compared to the 1,706 days that Windows 10 needed. Microsoft’s failed experiment Windows Phone ruined the launch of Windows 10 almost ten years ago.
Less market share
You would expect more users to lead to more market share for Windows 11, but the opposite appears to be true. The figures from Statcounter paint a very different picture. Windows 10 is far from finished.
In October 2025, Windows 11 still had a market share of 55 percent in the Windows desktop market. By December 2025, that had fallen to just over fifty percent. Windows 10, on the other hand, saw its market share rise again from 41 percent to just under 45 percent. The remaining five percent is made up of older and no longer supported Windows versions.
The ESU program that Microsoft offers seems to keep users on Windows 10 longer. This is evident from a survey by ITdaily among readers. Half of the IT professionals surveyed have remained loyal to Windows 10 after the end of support. There is a clear preference for the free extended updates. In a year’s time, the situation may be completely different again.