ISLAMABAD In a blog post last week, Microsoft Executive Vice President Yusuf Mehdi announced that Windows is currently running on more than one billion active devices worldwide. While that figure might seem impressive at first glance, it represents a notable decline from previous numbers.
According to ZDNET, Microsoft’s 2022 annual report indicated that over 1.4 billion devices were using Windows 10 or 11 at the time. Given that such reports are typically reviewed thoroughly by the company’s legal team, it’s safe to say that Windows has lost around 400 million users over the past three years.
This quiet drop in user base may help explain Microsoft’s increasingly aggressive push to get users to upgrade to Windows 11, especially as support for older versions winds down. The strategy appears aimed at nudging users to either update their existing systems or purchase new PCs compatible with Windows 11.
Although Apple’s macOS, particularly since the introduction of Apple Silicon, poses a growing challenge to Windows, it’s unlikely that the entire group of lost Windows users switched to Mac. That’s because even Mac sales have been on a decline. As far back as 2023, Statista reported that Macs, once accounting for over 85% of Apple’s revenue, had fallen to just 7.7%.
The decline in Windows’ user base appears to be driven by several factors, chief among them the global shift toward mobile-first computing. As smartphones and tablets continue to replace traditional PCs for many everyday tasks, fewer people are relying on desktop operating systems like Windows.
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Compounding the issue is Microsoft’s decision to enforce strict hardware requirements for Windows 11. This has left many users with fully functional older machines unable to upgrade, leading some to remain on unsupported versions or to walk away from the Windows platform altogether.
On top of that, Windows 11 has faced criticism for being less user-friendly than Windows 10, with many users frustrated by its interface changes, growing emphasis on data collection, and design choices that increasingly resemble Apple’s ecosystem.
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