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- Windows 10 End of Life is just four months away but installations of Windows 11 actually went backwards last month.
- Data from StatsCounter saw Windows 11 installations decline by 0.5 percent.
- This continues the trend seen since Windows 11 launched in which users are resistant to upgrading given the hardware requirements of the operating system.
Microsoft launched Windows 10 in 2015 and once it was available, you had a tough time convincing folks to stay on Windows 8. With Windows 11 though, the opposite is true, Microsoft simply can’t convince folks to make the switch.
In fact, it seems as if folks are testing Windows 11 out and then switching back to Windows 10. Data from StatCounter, which tracks the market share of each version of Windows reports that between April 2025 and May 2025, Windows 11 saw its market share decline from 43.72 percent to 43.22 percent. Admittedly, half a percentage point isn’t a huge decrease but, given that Windows 10 will no longer receive updates from Microsoft come 14th October, any decrease in install figures is bad.
Conversely, Windows 10 installations increased from 52.94 percent in April 2025 to 53.19 percent in May 2025, a 0.25 percentage point increase.
Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Windows Version Market Share
Windows 10 also still has most of the Windows market share and it will likely maintain that crown for a while still.
One of the reasons the move to Windows 11 has been so slow comes down to hardware. The point of contention here is a Trusted Platform Module 2.0 which older PCs may not have. This means that unlike with previous Windows upgrades, users may be required to upgrade their PCs in order to upgrade.
Furthermore, not much has changed between Windows 10 and Windows 11. In fact, we’d argue that the operating system is worse now than it was given that marquee features announced for Windows 11 have just been removed in favour of cramming AI into every nook and cranny. And even if AI is a consideration, one needs a rather pricey CoPilot+PC to make full use of the tech and even then, some of those features simply aren’t available.
Unfortunately, Microsoft has made no announcements about continuing support for Windows 10 after 14th October. We are still four months from that deadline and given that Windows 10 is still the top dog, we expect Microsoft’s hand will be forced here.
Microsoft has to extend support here and we’re not talking about customers paying a premium either. Again, Windows 10 represents 53.19 percent of the total Windows market, cutting support in the face of those figures would be incredibly irresponsible of Microsoft here and would surely rile up lawmakers, security teams and even regular users around the world.
