No, Windows 11 still runs on about 1.4 billion monthly active devices. Despite what you might read online, Windows is not done and dusted. It didn’t lose 400 million devices over the past three years. At worst, its growth has slowed, but it isn’t losing market share to Linux or macOS.
In June 2025, Microsoft announced it’s extending Windows 10 support for users who link their PC to a Microsoft account, use Microsoft Rewards points, or pay $30 for Extended Security Updates (ESUs). In that same blog post while talking about how Windows is empowering the world, Microsoft casually mentioned “1 billion” instead of “1.4 billion.”
In the original blog post I found on the Internet Archive, Microsoft noted that “Windows is the most widely used operating system, powering over a billion monthly active devices,” which seemed to imply that only just over a billion devices use the OS. But in 2022, Microsoft said over 1.4 billion devices were running Windows.
This led some to think Windows had lost so many devices that Microsoft could no longer say “1.4 billion.” Whether that meant 400 million, 300 million, or even 200 million fewer users, it sounded like a big drop. But that’s not the case. It was just an oversight.
Microsoft has clarified that the blog’s “over a billion” phrasing was simply an oversight, not a drop from the previous 1.4 billion figure.
I’m told that the “1 billion” line was a communication error and Microsoft officials pointed us to the updated blog post, which now correctly says 1.4 billion monthly active users:
And it makes sense. 400 million is no small number. If Windows had dropped from 1.4 billion to just over a billion, we would’ve seen a major shift in global market share.
Plus, devices don’t just vanish in three years. If 400 million stopped running Windows, macOS or Linux would’ve seen a massive jump. But that hasn’t happened.
This is a developing story…
