Microsoft has a few important initiatives in its quest to remain an important player in the PC market. Windows 10 and Surface are two products that are particularly vital to the company’s success, and it’s sometimes difficult to measure just how well they’re doing. The most recent AdDuplex data suggests that the most recent version of Windows 10, Fall Creators Update, is doing better than its predecessor, while the Surface Pro remains the most popular of Microsoft’s hardware options.
First, the detachable tablet Surface Pro retains its place at the top of Microsoft heap, making up well over 50 percent of all Surface sales. The Surface Pro 4 remains comfortably in first place with 39.7 percent of the Surface market, but the newest Surface Pro has already jumped to 9.2 percent and threatens to take over third place from the low-end Surface 3. The Surface Laptop is running far behind at two percent, while the ultra-expensive Surface Book 2 makes its debut at 0.4 percent.
Next, the most recent major Windows 10 update, Fall Creators Update, is enjoying a more robust rollout than its Creators Update predecessor. With just a month and a half since it was released, Fall Creators Update is running on 20.5 percent of all Windows 10 PCs, according to AdDuplex data. That’s ahead of Creators Update, which at the same point in time was running on 18.1 percent of machines.
Unsurprisingly, Microsoft’s own Surface PCs lead the way in the number of machines already updated, at over 40 percent. Next up is MSI, which exceeds the market average, while leaders HP, Dell, and Lenovo are all at close to the average one-fifth updated.
AdDuplex gets the data used in this report from roughly 5,000 Windows Store apps that are running the organization’s software developers kit (SDK). That means that it’s relevant in terms of the Windows market itself, but it doesn’t say anything about how Windows — or Surface, for that matter — are doing relative to the rest of the PC market.
Nevertheless, at the very least, Fall Creators Update appears to be enjoying a smooth rollout, which bodes well for Microsoft’s ability to bring to market important new features that might keep people on the Windows 10 bandwagon. And Microsoft’s detachable tablet formula continues to resonate with Surface fans, perhaps more so than its more laptop-like alternatives.
