The number of devices running Windows 11 is over 400 million, with steady growth expected to reach 500 million by spring 2024.



Windows Central, an IT news site, reports that the number of devices running Windows 11, which was released in October 2021, is over 400 million as of October 2023. The number of units is steadily increasing and is expected to exceed 500 million units by spring 2024.

Report: Windows 11 has surpassed 400 million monthly users | Windows Central

https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/exclusive-windows-11-is-active-on-almost-half-a-billion-devices-ahead-of-microsofts-expectations



This was reported by IT news site Windows Central as information from a person familiar with Microsoft's internal data.

Windows 11 is an OS that was released in October 2021, and it took about two years to reach this point, which is half the speed of the previous version, Windows 10, which reached 400 million units in about a year after its release.

However, the difference is that when Windows 10 was introduced, it was available as a free upgrade from most Windows 7 and all Windows 8.1 versions. This upgrade program was initially offered as a one-year limited measure, but free upgrades continued to be available thereafter. Microsoft has announced that the installation path for obtaining free upgrades has been removed on September 20, 2023, but some point out that it is still possible to upgrade with an unused Windows 7/8 license key.

Free upgrade from Windows 7/8 to Windows 10/11 has ended - GIGAZINE



On the other hand, Windows 11 cannot be installed unless system requirements such as

the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) are met, and in effect it is only compatible with PCs manufactured after 2018.

``PC health check'' to check whether Windows 11 can be installed has evolved to tell you ``reasons why it cannot be installed'', and I actually tried using it - GIGAZINE



For this reason, there have been cases where PCs upgraded from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 are discarded at this point. According to Windows Central, 25% of readers were unable to upgrade to Windows 11 due to this system requirement.

Looking at the numbers alone, it can be said that ``Windows 11's diffusion speed is inferior to Windows 10'', but Microsoft has achieved its internal goals and it seems to be more successful than expected.

By the way, according to the statistical information site StatCounter, as of September 2023, the share by Windows version is 1st place is Windows 10 at 71.62%, 2nd place is Windows 11 at 23.64%, 3rd place is Windows 7 at 3.33%, Below is less than 1%.

Desktop Windows Version Market Share Worldwide | Statcounter Global Stats
https://gs.statcounter.com/os-version-market-share/windows/desktop/worldwide



in Software,   Hardware, Posted by logc_nt