Microsoft is famously reticent about operating system usage figures unless it has something to boast about. So CEO Satya Nadella stating that Windows 11 had reached one billion users raised a few eyebrows.
As ever, the devil is in the details. Nadella did not say whether this was a daily active user figure, how many came from new hardware versus upgrades, or the mix of users. He also did not say how many devices were still on Windows 10 or had enrolled in the company's Extended Security Updates program.
What he did say was that the figure represented a 45 percent year-on-year increase.
A bit of back-of-the-envelope math shows that Windows 11 has reached this milestone faster than Windows 10, although there are a number of factors that need to be considered. The year-on-year increase, for example, was likely driven in part by the end of support for many versions on Windows 10 in October, prompting a large number of customers to move to the new operating system.
Windows 11 would also have reached the milestone far faster if it were not for the operating system's infamous hardware compatibility requirements, which prevented many Windows 10 devices from accepting the update and necessitated replacement hardware.
Microsoft blamed Windows Phone for not hitting its self-imposed two-year target for a billion Windows 10 devices by 2018. Windows 11 did not have that particular millstone dragging it down, but instead had the dual brakes of hardware compatibility preventing upgrades and general user apathy toward the flagship operating system.
The end of support for Windows 10 has forced the vast majority of holdouts to either upgrade to Windows 11 or stick with the Windows 10 Extended Security Updates (ESU) program. Microsoft has not released figures for the latter. However, several industry watchers told The Register that enterprises had likely already factored in hardware replacement or ESU costs ahead of the October 2025 deadline for the end of free Windows 10 updates.
Still, the milestone will be welcomed by Microsoft and anyone looking for Windows 11-related news. After all, it hasn't been the greatest start for the Windows ecosystem in 2026 thanks to multiple out-of-band releases following January's Patch Tuesday security update. ®
Source: The register