Windows 11 hits 30% adoption (and it’s about time) – so is Microsoft’s AI gamble finally starting to pay off?
We’re far from convinced that the AI assistant itself is making any impact, but Copilot+ PCs, on the other hand…
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Windows 11has finally crept over the 30% mark for market share according to the latest stats from an analytics firm.
Statcounter’s figures forJuly 2024show that in the ranking of all Windows versions, Windows 11 is now at 30.83% (in second place), which is up just over a percentage point from the previous month.Windows 10moved proportionately in the other direction, dropping a percentage point to 64.99%, but remaining in pole position, of course.
WhileMicrosoftwill doubtless be pleased to crack the 30% barrier, this has been a long time coming seeing as it was back in March 2023 that Windows 11 crested the 20% mark. So, getting this latest 10% increase has taken a year and four months, nearly as long as it took reaching 20% in the first place.
Whichever way you dice it,Windows 11 adoption has been sluggish(well,outside of PC gaminganyway). Indeed, the OS even dropped users earlier in 2024, according to Statcounter’s figures – but at least it has been picking up a reasonable pace of growth since April 2024. Indeed, in the last three months, it has gained over 4.5%, which represents a decent spike of users migrating to Windows 11.
As ever, this is just one set of stats for Windows market share, so add some seasoning (but other figures reflect a similar, if not identical, reality, by and large).
Analysis: A very slow ascent indeed
Could this be the magic of AI enticing folks to switch over to Windows 11? We doubt it, considering that not a great deal has been happening with Copilot in the OS of late. Indeed,Copilot is now in the process of being turned into an app(app-ified?) rather than a locked panel on the right of the desktop, and this has witnessed the AI taking some backward steps.
All the promises about Copilot being a super-smart assistant which can change Windows settings for you (maybe multiple settings in one fell swoop) seem to have gone out the, er, window – for now, this side of the AI’s functionality appears to be going nowhere. On top of that, Microsoft’s biggest new AI feature, Recall – for Copilot+ PCs –crashed and burned in remarkable fashion too. AI-wise, things aren’t going so well for Windows 11 right now.
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That said,Copilot+ PCs do still come with some nifty AI powers, and theywent on salein June, so the latest upticks for Windows 11 could well, to some extent, be helped by the arrival of these devices on shelves.
Taking the perspective of an overall level, though, it might be thoughts of the impending demise of Windows 10 next year –when it runs out of support– that really drives folks to jump on the Windows 11 wagon.
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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - ‘I Know What You Did Last Supper’ - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).
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