The latest AdDuplex report has some interesting news for Windows fans. But what it doesn’t say is really bad news for Surface fans.
“[Windows 10 version 1909] has grown at a steady pace over the last few months,” the latest AdDuplex report, which uses data from over 100,000 surveyed PCs, notes. “One interesting tidbit is that usage of all old versions of Windows 10 increased a bit since last month. This is likely due to the fact that people in self-isolation are using unusual PCs that weren’t kept up-to-date.”
Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!
"*" indicates required fields
This month, Windows 10 version 1909 hit 28.2 percent usage, compared to 22.6 percent in February, a gain of 5.6 percentage points. That’s a bit of a slowdown over the previous month’s growth; Windows 10 version 1909 usage was 15.2 percent in January.
Still, it’s a big milestone. As AdDuplex adds, “Windows 10 [version 1909] is now on more than a quarter of [Windows 10-based] PCs worldwide.”
Left unstated, however, is the firm’s usual Surface usage survey. As you may recall, AdDuplex last reported on Surface usage in January, and only Surface Pro 7 had seen an appreciable uptick in usage among the three new models Microsoft launched in November. Meanwhile, Surface Laptop 3 accounted for just 1.5 percent of usage and Surface Pro X was an even bigger non-event with about .5 percent usage.
This month, AdDuplex declined to report on Surface usage because the numbers basically haven’t changed since January. That’s bad news for anyone hoping that Surface would see a renaissance of sorts from sales of its newest devices.