No, Windows 11 still runs on about 1,4 billion monthly active devices. It hasn't lost 400 million devices in the last three years. At worst, its growth has slowed, but it's not losing market share to Linux or macOS.
Microsoft clarified that the blog's "over a billion" phrase was simply a rounding, and not a drop from the previous number of 1,4 billion.
In June 2025, Microsoft announced that it is expanding Windows 10 support for users who connect their computer to a Microsoft account, use Microsoft Rewards points, or pay $30 for Extended Security Updates (ESU).
In the same publication, the company mentioned “1 billion” instead of “1,4 billion.”
Microsoft's post said that "Windows is the most widely used operating system, powering over a billion monthly active devices," which seemed to imply that only a little over a billion devices were using the operating system. But in 2022, Microsoft said that over 1,4 billion devices were running Windows.
This led some to believe that Windows had lost a lot of devices because Microsoft didn’t mention “1,4 billion.” That would have meant 400 million, 300 million, or even 200 million fewer users, and it sounded like a pretty big drop. But according to the company, that’s not the case. It was just an omission.
Although the press releases will range from very select to rare, I said I'd pass...because sometimes the editors hide.
