Windows 10 is on pace to reach 1 billion devices by early to mid-2020

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Less than 100 million more to go.

Windows 10 is now installed on more than 900 million devices, according to Microsoft, putting the OS within arm's reach of the 1 billion devices goal the company thought it would hit in 2017, or 2018 at the latest.

Former Windows chief Terry Myerson made the prediction in just a few months before Windows 10 launched in July 2015. At the time, he predicted Windows 10 would reach 1 billion devices "in two to three years."

That never happened, but barring something widely bizarre happening, Windows 10 will reach 1 billion devices. I doubt it will get there before the end of the year. On its current trajectory, it should hit the 1 billion mark within the first few months of 2020, and if not, certainly by the middle of next year.

Windows 10 was sitting on around 700 million devices around this time last year, and reached 800 million devices last March. According to Microsoft's Yusuf Mehdi, Windows 10 notched more new devices in the past 12 months than at any other period since it launched.

Hitting 1 billion devices specifically is only somewhat of an arbitrary benchmark. The release of Windows 10 essentially saw Microsoft move to a Windows as a service (WaaS) business model. It's goal at the outset is the same as it is now—to expand the reach of Windows 10 to as many devices as possible, and get users plugged into its ecosystem, particularly its subscription-based services (like Office 365).

Are you using Windows 10 on your primary desktop? If not, what OS are you running?

Paul Lilly
Paul Lilly

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).