Windows 11 has reached 1 billion users faster than Windows 10
is a senior editor and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years.
Windows 11 now has one billion users. Microsoft hit the milestone during the recent holiday quarter, meaning Windows 11 has managed to reach one billion users faster than Windows 10 did nearly six years ago.
“Windows reached a big milestone, 1 billion Windows 11 users,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on the company’s fiscal Q2, 2026 earnings call. “Up over 45 percent year-over-year.” The growth of Windows 11 over the past quarter will be related to Microsoft’s end of support for Windows 10, which also helped increase Microsoft’s Windows OEM revenues.
Microsoft must have had a strong number of Windows 11 users throughout December, as Windows chief Pavan Davuluri revealed at Microsoft Ignite on November 19th that “nearly a billion people” were running Windows 11.
What’s interesting is that Windows 11 has managed to reach one billion users in 1,576 days, less than the 1,706 days it took Windows 10 to reach the same milestone. Microsoft had planned to get Windows 10 running on a billion devices within three years of its release, but the timeline got extended after the cancelation of Windows Phone.
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