Microsoft Could Have 400 Million Reasons For Asking PC Users To Pay For Windows 11 – News18

Microsoft always avoided sharing official figures for Windows users across the globe but now a leaked report suggests the company might have close to 400 million active devices running on the Windows 11 version. Recently, Microsoft shared an update that it is blocking Windows 7 and 8 activation keys that helped millions upgrade to Windows 11 in the last two years.

The company has definitely gone quiet on sharing numbers for Windows 11 alone and even the website talks about the 1.4 billion devices that are running Windows 10 or Windows 11 currently.

It is estimated that around 1 billion out of the total are running on Windows 10, which means that Microsoft has only managed to get 400 million Windows PCs to upgrade since it was first introduced back in 2021.

The leaked report vouches for Microsoft’s silence on these numbers, which clearly doesn’t bode well for its latest available Windows version. In comparison, Windows 10 upgrades were much faster and would have reached 400 million active devices much earlier than 2 years. Microsoft did change its stance on Windows 11 compatibility which resulted in millions of Windows 10 PCs no longer eligible to upgrade.

The TPM 2.0 security parameter has been limited to the latest Windows models from different brands, and not having the option to take the free upgrade to Windows 11 has come at a price for the company. Having said, if Microsoft does have 400 million devices running on Windows 11, it seems they are happy with that number and ready for people to now pay to upgrade to Windows 11.

This strategy is clearly not working in the company’s favour and for all you know, Apple might benefit with more people migrating to Macs, which has a more robust strategy for its notebooks and the operating system works for well over 6 years with new OS upgrades not needing special conditions to run on the machines.