How Windows 10 may end up turning 240 million PCs into waste

The date is October 14, 2025, when Microsoft officially ends support for Windows 10. While the migration to Windows 11 is the next logical step in progression,. According to the company’s estimation, “in the almost two-year period until Microsoft’s official end-of-support date of Windows 10 on October 14, 2025, roughly a fifth of devices will become waste due to compatibility with Windows 11.

However, it’s important to remember that not all 240 million PCs will definitively become obsolete. These devices’ numerous recyclable and reusable parts reduce their negative environmental effects.

Microsoft is investigating a tool called the program that might serve as a bridge between Windows 10 and 11 and provide an additional alternative for recycling outdated technology.

The future of these 240 million PCs ultimately hinges on a complicated web of interrelated factors. Although the development of e-waste is a worrying possibility, the environmental impact can be reduced by appropriate e-waste management techniques, technical advancements, and user choices.

I hope my explanation gives a clear picture of the problem and its possible ramifications.

What Microsoft can do

Microsoft issued a statement announcing that extension security updates for Windows 10 will be available until October 2028. so if users pay a certain amount, then the company will give security updates for another three years This approach is not new for Microsoft, which also offered paid extended security updates for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 until January 2023, according to Canalys. The pricing plans for Windows 7 extended support began at $25 per year for the first year of support, quadrupling to $100 annually in the third and final year of Extended Security Updates.

Microsoft pursues a similar pricing structure for Windows 10″‘s extended support; the more cost-effective option will be migration to never-Windows 11-capable PCs, forcing older PCs onto the scrapheap,” added Canalys.