Microsoft really wants you to update to Windows 11 in 2025
- Microsoft calls 2025 ‘the year of the Windows 11 PC refresh’
- Windows 10 EOS will drive 80% of businesses to buy new devices
- Microsoft thinks its Copilot+ PCs are faster than the current generation MacBook Air
Microsoft has decided that CES 2025 is the perfect opportunity to reconnect Windows 11, as adoption numbers remain disappointing even as Windows 10 officially reaches its end of life.
At a company blog postMicrosoft Executive Vice President and Consumer Chief Marketing Officer Yusuf Mehdi declared 2025 “the year of the Windows 11 PC refresh”
In an effort to attract more users to Windows 11, Mehdi highlighted Microsoft’s latest artificial intelligence improvements, including Copilot+ PCs and the new Copilot button found on many of the latest models.
Microsoft is still struggling with Windows 11 adoption
“Building on Windows 11, our most secure version of Windows, we introduced a new category of PCs: the Copilot+ PC,” Mehdi wrote.
Figures listed separately after from Microsoft claim that the best Copilot+ PCs are up to 58% faster than the MacBook Air M3, with up to 47% faster AI performance than the same Apple laptop. Comparing the latest hardware to previous iterations, the company also stated that Copilot+ PCs are up to 5x faster than the most popular five-year-old Windows PCs still in use.
After a decade of updates and support, Windows 10’s end of service has been confirmed on October 14, 2025, but despite being over three years old, Windows 11 is still struggling to achieve the same level of traction.
As 2024 came to an end, Windows 10 retained a market share of almost two-thirds, at 63%. The remaining third went to Windows 11 (34%), while Windows 7 accounted for just 2.5%.
However, Microsoft is hopeful: research from IDC shows that 80% of companies could refresh their PC portfolio by the end of 2025 and that 70% of consumers will do so in the next two years.
Canalys research is also positive: AI PCs represented 20% of the market in Q3 2024. More than half (53%) were Windows PCs, such as Copilot+ models. However, the research firm surveyed channel partners in November 2024 and found that one in three (31%) do not plan to sell Copilot+ PCs in 2025.
“We believe Windows 11 is available at a time when the world needs it most – delivering advanced AI capabilities and modern security benefits that customers expect in 2025 and beyond,” concludes Mehdi.