- Dell COO Revealed Interesting Information on Earnings Call
- Jeffrey Clarke noted that Windows 11 is considerably behind Windows 10 in migration after the support deadline.
- Windows 11 is delayed by 10% to 12%, but that’s not surprising for a couple of reasons
Dell has made it clear that Windows 11 is not doing as well as Windows 10 when it comes to people migrating from these respective Microsoft operating systems after support deadlines ended.
The Register reports that Dell Chief Operating Officer (COO) Jeffrey Clarke commented on Windows 11’s lackluster progress in this regard during an earnings call earlier this week.
Clarke said: “We haven’t completed the transition to Windows 11. In fact, if you were to look at it relative to the end of support for the previous operating system, at that point we’re about 10 to 12 points behind Windows 11 than the previous generation.”
That’s a fancy way of saying that compared to Windows 10, when Windows 7 fell out of support (presumably we can rule out Windows 8 as part of the transition to Windows 10, since it never gathered a large user base in the first place), Windows 11 is a good distance away after support for Windows 10 ended (last month). In fact, Windows 11 is 10% to 12% behind the migration levels seen in Windows 10.
Obviously, there could be several reasons for that lack of progress relative to Windows 10, but the main obstacle is that Windows 11 rules out many older PCs with its more demanding system requirements (an issue that has been a source of frustration and controversy for some time now).
As Clarke pointed out, some 500 million PCs can’t run Windows 11, and while some of them can be upgraded to do so (with a new CPU or TPM module), most likely won’t (and in the case of laptops, it’s probably impossible to upgrade anyway).
Dell has had a solid year for PC sales so far in 2025 – as of Q3, sales are up ‘mid-to-high single digits’, we’re told, so presumably around 7-8% – but Clarke notes that next year will be different.
The PC maker forecasts sales will remain flat in 2026, while billing it as “flourishing,” and while that word may not make much sense, the COO sees this through the lens of memory price increases and component cost headwinds. (RAM and SSD mainly, and also to some extent standalone GPUs that have video RAM).
As we have seen clearly over the last month, these supply issues and price increases are driving up costs for PC manufacturers currently (the increase in the price of RAM is extreme, to say the least) and therefore it is inevitable that computers are becoming more expensive. Therefore, simply maintaining sales levels in 2026 is considered a victory, as additional incentives such as the long-awaited increase in AI PCs (Copilot+ laptops) are not enough to combat the headwinds of the various components.
Obviously, a slower migration to Windows 11 PCs doesn’t help sales either, as people stick with their Windows 10 machines or perhaps choose another path entirely (like Linux or even macOS).
Analysis: some alarms but no surprises
In short, while Dell’s sales numbers are currently good, Windows 11 adoption is not, and it is significantly behind Windows 10 at the same stage of its post-support timeline according to Dell statistics.
It’s not really good news for Windows 11, but it’s not surprising either. Why not? Firstly, because the general lack of popularity of Windows 11, whether because people are prevented from upgrading due to the jump in required hardware specifications or simply because people don’t like it very much, is nothing new. Windows 11 has been well behind the pace of Windows 10 in relative adoption levels throughout its lifespan.
And second, Microsoft did something very different with Windows 10 when it reached end-of-life last month, at least in the consumer sphere. That is, for the first time, extended support was offered to consumers for (more or less) free (there is a downside, but it’s not a big deal in my opinion and it’s not financial). With a free year of additional support available, this means Windows 10 users can get security updates until October 2026.
And in turn, that means that any concerns you may have about what to do with your Windows 10 computer that doesn’t support Windows 11 can be postponed until next year. In short, you have another year to think about buying a new Windows 11 PC to replace your existing system or upgrade your current computer, perhaps, to support Windows 11 (or leave the Microsoft ecosystem altogether).
This must surely be a factor in the migration delay seen by Dell here, and given that, it may be the case that the pace of the transition to Windows 11 remains slow until October 2026, perhaps also influencing Dell’s PC sales predictions for next year.
So, in theory, a larger increase in migration could be seen around this time next year. In practice, well, we’ll see, and part of how this plays out may depend on how well Microsoft can follow through with its big push with AI in Windows 11, a direction that has proven to be quite controversial with the operating system’s existing user base.
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