Microsoft increases Windows 11 fees for OEMs

The crunch on the PC market continues as the rising memory chip prices are not the only thing that's getting more expensive. Starting today, Microsoft is hiking up its Windows 11 license fees for OEMs.

The price increase is somewhere between 7% and 10%, which is unusually high. One of the PC vendors noted that it's expected for Microsoft to increase prices pretty much every year, but it's usually by a low singe-digit percentages.

Big OEMs that sell PCs in large volumes like Dell, Asus, HP, etc. will see their fees increased by around 7%, but smaller manufacturers will probably have to deal with double-digit percentage increases.

Some believe that Microsoft is trying to step up its game with Windows 11 and improve the user experience, which objectively hasn't been all that great lately. And to offset those efforts, it's increasing licensing costs.

As is usually the case, this will be passed onto the consumers, and PCs will get a bit more expensive now.

The good news is that the standard licensing fees for the end consumer will remain the same. Windows 11 Home is still priced at $139, while the Pro version is $199.

Via