In summary:
- PCWorld reports Windows 11 has achieved 73% market share, surpassing Windows 10’s 26% following Microsoft’s end of support in 2025.
- This milestone marks a significant shift as Microsoft now prioritizes Windows 11 for all new features and security updates.
- Despite mixed user feedback regarding features like Copilot, Windows 11’s dominance establishes a new era for Microsoft’s operating system development.
Foe the first time in history, Windows 10 is finally dying — leaving Windows users on a single version: Windows 11.
Data from Statcounter shows that Windows 11’s market share is now at 73 percent, far greater than at any point in its life. Windows 11’s market share has shot upwards since December, while Windows 10’s market share has declined at about the same rate, to 26 percent.
Worldwide, that crossover began in June 2025, Statcounter found, though with Windows 10 and Windows 11’s share remaining relatively static throughout the remainder of the year. In the United States, the crossover took place in mid-February of 2025, but again remained largely steady until early 2026.
The shift is largely due to Microsoft’s efforts to push Windows 10 out of the picture. In 2025, Microsoft ended support for Windows 10, after warning about it for months. Microsoft still offered a number of lifelines to Windows 10 users, including paying for support or earning support through various tasks like backing up data. Still, the majority of users have apparently migrated away from Microsoft’s older operating system.
Statcounter
The implications are significant. Even though Microsoft will still provide patches to Windows 10, many more resources can be allocated to Windows 11 in terms of new features, security, and more. Microsoft has already privately communicated to customers, analysts and journalists that Windows 11 will be the focus going forward, and it is actively soliciting feedback on what issues to address. As proof, the company said it would revise its Feedback Hub application within Windows in a bid to encourage users to once again involve themselves in the ongoing development of Windows 11, as they did with Windows 10.
Microsoft has acknowledged that, at least in 2026, many of those interactions have been negative. Users like myself have objected to Copilot itself, as well as Microsoft injecting Copilot into virtually all aspects of Windows — even Notepad, and even with a subscription. It will be up to Microsoft to do something about that.
Still, the numbers show that it’s a new era for Windows. What happens now?
Author: Mark Hachman, Senior Editor, PCWorld
Mark has written for PCWorld for the last decade, with 30 years of experience covering technology. He has authored over 3,500 articles for PCWorld alone, covering PC microprocessors, peripherals, and Microsoft Windows, among other topics. Mark has written for publications including PC Magazine, Byte, eWEEK, Popular Science and Electronic Buyers' News, where he shared a Jesse H. Neal Award for breaking news. He recently handed over a collection of several dozen Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs because his office simply has no more room.