Microsoft just crossed a massive threshold. Windows 11 hit 1 billion users during the holiday quarter, reaching the milestone faster than Windows 10 managed back in 2020. The surge comes as Microsoft pulls the plug on Windows 10 support, forcing millions to upgrade while Windows OEM revenues climb. It's a telling shift in how quickly users now adopt new operating systems.
Microsoft just notched a win that shows how much the PC landscape has changed. Windows 11 now runs on 1 billion devices worldwide, and it got there faster than its predecessor - a milestone that seemed uncertain when the operating system launched with controversial hardware requirements back in 2021.
"Windows reached a big milestone, 1 billion Windows 11 users," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told investors on the company's fiscal Q2 2026 earnings call. "Up over 45 percent year-over-year." The timing is no accident. Microsoft hit the billion-user mark during the holiday quarter, exactly when the company's Windows 10 end-of-life deadline started pushing holdouts to upgrade.
The numbers tell a compelling story. Windows 11 reached 1 billion users in just 1,576 days since its October 2021 launch. Windows 10 took 1,706 days to hit the same milestone - a 130-day difference that reflects both the strength of the PC market and Microsoft's more aggressive migration strategy this time around. As recently as November 19th, Windows chief Pavan Davuluri revealed at Microsoft Ignite that "nearly a billion people" were running Windows 11, meaning the company added millions of users in just over a month.
The growth surge directly boosted Microsoft's bottom line. The company reported increased Windows OEM revenues as PC makers shipped devices with Windows 11 pre-installed, capitalizing on the forced upgrade cycle. Business customers, in particular, faced a hard deadline - stick with Windows 10 and lose security updates, or upgrade to hardware that meets Windows 11's TPM 2.0 and CPU requirements.
