Windows 10 reached end of support last month, and while Microsoft does offer Extended Support Updates (ESUs) for the operating system, it would much rather prefer if people would migrate to Windows 11. However, it seems that adoption of Windows 11 isn"t as fast-paced as Windows 10, according to Dell.
In its Q3 results for Financial Year 2026 (FY26), Dell"s COO Jeffrey Clarke is quoted by The Register as saying that people have been quite slow in migrating to Windows 11 compared to its predecessor in the same phase:
"We have not completed the Windows 11 transition. In fact, if you were to look at it relative to the previous OS end of support, we are 10-12 points behind at that point with Windows 11 than we were the previous generation."
The executive also noted that 500 million PCs don"t meet Windows 11"s system requirements while the others don"t need a hardware upgrade to run the OS. Although this would indicate that 500 million PCs would potentially be replaced with newer alternatives capable of running Windows 11 at some point, Clarke hinted at "roughly flat" sales for Dell PCs would moving forward. Clarke didn"t explain the reasoning behind this statement, but it could mean that people are just not that interested in upgrading to Windows 11 PCs.
For what it"s worth, Windows 11 does have some issues that customers have been complaining about, but Microsoft is working on fixing them. The company is also heavily leaning on its latest AI capabilities to entice users in upgrading to Windows 11. Dell and AMD have been following in Microsoft"s footsteps by marketing AI tools to customers as well.
Overall, Dell posted a very strong quarter with $27 billion in revenue, emphasizing that FY26 will be "another record year". It also highlighted accelerating AI momentum with huge orders for AI servers, resulting in the company "winning the AI race". You can read Dell"s full quarterly report here.