Home windows 11 shipped in 2021, and 5 years later, Microsoft appears to have made peace with the truth that Home windows 10 refuses to die. Hardcore Home windows 10 holdouts could by no means abandon ship, largely as a result of they don’t see Home windows 10 as a sinking ship within the first place, even as extended support enters its final stretch in 2027.
My principle aligns with the numbers we’re seeing from OEMs, IT administration corporations like Lansweeper, and even Microsoft’s current earnings name.
Windows is no longer the cash cow for Microsoft because it was, nevertheless it’s nonetheless the platform that helps the corporate promote merchandise to enterprises, reminiscent of Microsoft 365 and even Copilot. It’s additionally why Microsoft is reviving Home windows 11 in 2026, as a foul Home windows may also damage its enterprise prospects.
Home windows 11 vs Home windows 10 has been a serious debate since 2021, however Microsoft gained’t outright inform you the precise numbers for the way nicely Home windows 11 is doing or how the migration goes, so we don’t have first-party market share numbers.
Most analysts have relied on oblique strategies to measure Home windows market share, and probably the most well-known is StatCounter, an online analytics firm that may generally present Home windows 8.1 or Windows 7 suddenly eating into Windows 11’s market share. I don’t take StatCounter numbers at face worth as a result of it’s not meant for OS model monitoring.
No person needs to be trusting random stats simply because they match their beliefs, however I’ve acquired some impartial numbers that appear to show how Microsoft is struggling to kill Home windows 10.
IT administration firm Lansweeper says Home windows 10 simply can’t die
Lansweeper, which is an asset monitoring service that scans actual enterprise {hardware}, says Home windows 10 nonetheless has roughly 17% market share. Meaning roughly one in six PCs within the enterprise ecosystem makes use of Home windows 10. In contrast to shoppers, enterprises have the choice to interchange PCs in bulk, however even then, they’re refusing to completely embrace Home windows 11.
It’s not like Home windows 10 stopped dropping market share years in the past. It truly misplaced an enormous chunk in 2025 when it was approaching the tip of help. About half of PCs had been operating Home windows 10 in early 2025, however the quantity dropped to roughly 40% as October 2025 approached, and it’s now at roughly 17%, a yr later.
Of these 16.9% of Home windows 10 PCs, healthcare, pharma, and client retail account for a big chunk of the unsupported property.
These PCs will ultimately turn out to be extra weak, and the Home windows 10 vulnerability hole is already 2.9× larger in comparison with Home windows 11.
Home windows 10 and Home windows 11’s present market share based mostly on enterprise PC knowledge
| Metric | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Home windows 10 share | 16.9% |
| Home windows 11 share | 78.8% |
| Lively CVEs on Home windows 10 | 1,903 |
| Lively CVEs on Home windows 11 | 652 |
| Home windows 10 vulnerability hole | 2.9× larger |
The numbers are unlikely to alter dramatically, as neither Microsoft nor OEMs anticipate Home windows 10’s share to out of the blue collapse. That is additionally in step with what Lansweeper is saying.
“Home windows 10 nonetheless runs on 16.9% of Home windows purchasers, and they’re proving cussed. The straightforward migrations are executed. What’s left is the laborious core: units that haven’t moved as a result of they will’t, or gained’t,” Lansweeper noted in a brand new report.
Amongst companies, who is definitely utilizing Home windows 10?
| Group | Home windows 10 share |
|---|---|
| Healthcare & pharma | 23.0% |
| Shopper & retail | 22.7% |
| SMBs | 21.4% |
| Manufacturing | 18.0% |
| Enterprises | 16.6% |
How dangerous is Home windows 10 in comparison with Home windows 11 regardless of the ESU?
| Danger | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Excessive or essential CVEs | 66.6% |
| Identified exploited CVEs | 2.4% |
| Exploitability vs Home windows 11 | 1.7× larger |
| Industrial companies hit by safety incidents | 43% |
Home windows 10 PCs that may’t improve as a consequence of {hardware} points, and OEMs anticipate will ultimately get replaced, leading to continued refresh momentum:
| Group | Can’t transfer to Home windows 11 |
|---|---|
| Shopper & retail | 7.8% |
| Transport & logistics | 6.1% |
| Enterprises | 3.8% |
| Manufacturing | 3.0% |
| Healthcare | 1.1% |
Out of the roughly 17% of PCs operating Home windows 10, about 14% are receiving ESU patches, which implies roughly 2% of PCs have even refused to embrace ESU and are operating a weak working system.
“A Home windows 10 gadget carries a mean of 1,903 lively CVEs, towards 652 on Home windows 11. That’s a 2.9x hole, and it widens with each Patch Tuesday that fixes Home windows 11 and leaves Home windows 10 untouched,” the IT administration firm warned.
HP confirms Home windows 10 refuses to die
Each quarter, I learn the monetary reviews of Microsoft’s OEM companions within the hope that they might make a remark about Home windows 11. Fortunately, in Could 2026, HP told its investors that Windows 10 is still widely used and stated that at the least three in ten PCs in its put in base run the outdated working system.
It is sensible as a result of those that wished to stop Home windows 10 for one purpose or one other, reminiscent of gaming, have principally executed it. Now, we’re trying on the hardcore or cussed prospects refusing to let Home windows 10 die.
“We did see good development in each EMEA and APJ this quarter. And a few of that was pushed by the anticipated tailwinds from Win 11. And I might say, at this level, we’ve got roughly 30% of the put in base nonetheless on Home windows 10,” Karen L. Parkhill, Government Vice President and Chief Monetary Officer at HP, informed traders.
Nevertheless, HP says the Home windows 11 refresh cycle continues to be producing PC gross sales in sure areas, reminiscent of Asia and Europe, which can be slowly catching up. It’s one factor for Home windows 11 to promote extra PCs, nevertheless it’s one other for individuals to dump Home windows 10 and transfer to Home windows 11, both by upgrading the software program or changing the {hardware}.
HP argues that Home windows 11 development is now additionally being pushed by the AI PC transition, and it recorded “double-digit development” in “each client and business” Private Methods.
HP continues to be hopeful that Home windows 10 holdouts should improve sooner or later, so it sees the roughly 30% of the put in base nonetheless ready to be refreshed as a chance.
“One, nonetheless Home windows 11, 30% of the put in base continues to be to be refreshed. So, that’s one tailwind, which we see as a chance within the brief run,” Ketan Patel, President of HP’s Private Methods enterprise, stated.
“However in each the brief run and long term, as loads of prospects are shifting workloads to the sting with the rising price of accessing AI, that’s a terrific alternative.”
What’s Microsoft telling us about Home windows 10’s market share?
Microsoft officially only says that Windows is on 1.6 billion active PCs, which is a big quantity, however that doesn’t essentially imply individuals have moved on from Home windows 10.
As I famous, Microsoft gained’t present a breakdown of Home windows utilization share, however I just lately noticed an announcement in its quarterly report that validates what we’re listening to from HP and Lansweeper.
In the quarterly report, Microsoft stated Home windows OEM and Gadgets income decreased by 7%, whereas Home windows OEM income dropped by 5%. Is it as a result of PC makers shipped fewer units? Or is it due to RAM and provide chain points? Probably, however Microsoft’s personal clarification additionally factors to the Home windows 10 end-of-support increase fading away.
Most of the recent Windows 11 growth was driven by Windows 10 reaching the end of help, however with the remaining Home windows 10 customers refusing to stop and AI PCs not precisely booming, that tailwind is getting weaker.
“Home windows OEM and Gadgets income decreased 7%, and Home windows OEM decreased 5% pushed by decrease PC market demand and a excessive prior-year comparable that benefited from Home windows 10 finish of help,” Microsoft confirmed through the earnings name, as first reported by Home windows Newest.
“Outcomes had been forward of expectations as OEM and channel companions continued to construct stock given rising part costs.”
Home windows 10 simply gained’t die, and Microsoft could have accepted it
5 years after Home windows 11 launched, Microsoft has already used the largest lever it needed to transfer individuals away from Home windows 10, and that’s ending help. It labored to some extent, however when the corporate realized customers had been refusing to present it up, it gave shoppers prolonged safety updates.
Home windows 11 is now the default on virtually each new PC, and we nonetheless come throughout full-screen nudges. Nevertheless, a cussed chunk of the Home windows 10 put in base stays and may achieve this even after October 2027.
At this level, Microsoft can keep warning users, extending safety updates, and asking OEMs to promote extra Home windows 11 PCs, however the people who find themselves nonetheless on Home windows 10 more and more seem like the group that merely doesn’t wish to transfer.
