Windows 11 has already faced some controversy due to the nature of its release. Will the Global Chip Shortage affect it even further?
If you’ve ever tried to purchase any electronic device during the past year, you must have thought to yourself, “I swear I saw these available for a lower price just a few days ago”. Maybe you even tried to order a PS5 or an Xbox Series X and just couldn’t get your hands on one. Maybe you blamed it all on the scalpers and moved along, hoping to have another opportunity in the future to get them.
Even though scalpers are a blight on society, they get an opportunity even to do this because the companies just aren’t able to produce as many consoles and devices as they’d like. Do you really think that companies would willingly give up a chance to make more money? They can’t produce enough supply to meet the current demand for these products, and that is due to one singular reason- the Global Chip Shortage.
Wikipedia lists several reasons for the Global Chip Shortage, like the increase in electronics sales due to the pandemic and the US-China Trade War. Knowing the causes doesn’t help us in our predicament, but knowing that the cause isn’t just some lunatics hoarding everything to resell makes one feel slightly better about the world.
The Global Chip Shortage doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon, with Bloomberg even reporting that the situation worsened in the months of June and July. What used to be a 6-9 weeks delay has now turned into a wait of more than 20 weeks. That is the highest delay the Susquehanna Financial Group has ever seen. If you think about what happened in June-July that required more chips, the answer is pretty obvious- Windows 11.
Microsoft has received a ton of criticism on the way they handled the rollout of Windows 11, with the vagueness and randomness of some of the requirements of Windows 11 being criticised as a ploy to sell more systems. In response to that, Microsoft even took its PC Health Checker application off its website, and its original location shows a “coming soon” message.
Windows 11 requires a lot of specific features in your system for it to be able to run properly, which you can check here. Previously, all versions of windows have been able to be installed in almost every combination of hardware possible. If a system starts, you could probably run the Windows OS in there. Microsoft has stepped away from making Windows 11 available for everyone and has instead chosen to make people buy new systems in order to install the latest Windows 11.
Many people have called out Microsoft over this decision, as it blatantly screams anti-consumer on the surface. Whatever the reason was for Microsft to make it this way, this decision certainly affects the Global Chip Shortage, as manufacturers are rushing to release new systems that are specifically branded “Windows 11 Compatible.” Not only does this increase the backlog, even more, prioritising Windows 11 computers like this has caused the prices for relatively newer Windows 10 systems to skyrocket.
The Health Checker application’s removal indicates that Microsoft is working on something to appease the masses or better explain their decisions. The fact remains that as of right now, the Global Chip Shortage has never been worse, and Microsoft isn’t helping.