A recent report by Windows Central’s Zac Bowden reveals that there are currently 400 million monthly active devices running Windows 11, according to confidential data from Microsoft. This number is expected to surpass 500 million next year, exceeding Microsoft’s initial expectations for the operating system, which was released in Fall 2021.

In its 2022 annual report, Microsoft stated that there are now over 1.4 billion monthly active devices running either Windows 10 or Windows 11. However, the company has not yet provided specific data regarding Windows 11.

If we consider Bowden’s internal data, the 400 million Windows 11 devices represent 28.57% of the total 1.4 billion monthly active Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices reported by Microsoft. This market share is slightly higher than the 23.64% share estimated by Statcounter in September 2023. It’s worth noting that Statcounter still tracks the market share of Windows 7 (3.3%), Windows 8.1 (0.61%), and Windows XP (0.34%).

Back in January 2022, Panos Panay, Microsoft’s former Chief Product Officer, proudly mentioned that there was “strong demand” for Windows 11, with users accepting the upgrade offer at twice the rate seen for Windows 10. Surprisingly, the strict minimum hardware requirements for Windows 11 did not impede its adoption.

According to Bowden, Windows 11 has exceeded Microsoft’s internal expectations in terms of user base. This can be attributed to Microsoft’s new “Moments” update schedule, which enables faster delivery of new feature updates to Windows users.

While Windows 11 has gained popularity, it still has a long way to go before surpassing Windows 10 as the most widely used version of Windows. Although upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11 remains free, Microsoft recently discontinued the use of Windows 7/8 keys for activating Windows 11.

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