500 Million PC Users Are Not Upgrading To Windows 11 And That’s A Big Problem | Tech News

500 million PCs are due for an upgrade but will they?

Microsoft has stopped supporting Windows 10 updates since October this year but billions are still yet to upgrade to Windows 11 or buy a new PC with the latest version. Brands like Dell claim that around 500 million PCs are eligible for the Windows 11 but they continue to run the older version, which will have Microsoft worried.

“We have about 500 million of them capable of running Windows 11 that haven’t been upgraded,” Jeffrey Clarke, COO, Dell has been quoted saying during Q3 earnings call recently. 

He was basically talking about the overall PC market, but also mentioned that another 500 million PCs older than 4 years are not eligible for the Windows 11 upgrade. 

The Windows 11 Upgrade Challenge 

We have heard industry analysts mention that billions of PCs are due for an upgrade but this is the first time someone from the industry is sharing data with a gloomy picture for the segment over the next few years. Clarke speaking at the earnings call also said that having 500 million PCs going through the upgrade cycle is a good window but making it happen is a different matter altogether. And we get his point. 

The price of AI-powered PCs have gone through the roof and the imminent RAM and storage price hike is only going to make them costlier. In such cases, you could easily see people continue using the unofficial Windows 10 update till their system can handle it, which as we have seen with Windows XP, is not a hard task to achieve. 

The Windows upgrade could also become a good chance for Apple to get people to buy the Macs instead of moving to Windows 11. Microsoft’s terms to get the new version are stringent and many have repeatedly pointed out the need to have some leniency with the rules. In fact, consumer bodies had even written a letter to company’s chief Satya Nadella, which made no difference to the end result. 

With AI coming in full force, the biggest impact is going to be on the prices of these products, and people could eventually decide to wait for the tide to turn.

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