Microsoft Raises Windows OEM License Prices by Up to 10%
Microsoft reportedly raised Windows 11 OEM license fees by 7–10% starting July 2026. Retail prices stay at $119.99 / $168.99 — here's what it means for PC buyers.
- Louis
- 4 min read
- Affiliate Disclosure
Building or upgrading a PC has been painful enough this year, with RAM and SSD prices climbing since spring. Now there’s a software surcharge on top: Microsoft has quietly raised the price of Windows licenses sold to PC manufacturers, and the increase is bigger than usual.
According to a report from Taiwan’s United Daily News (UDN) picked up by Windows Central, Microsoft increased Windows 11 OEM license fees by 7% to 10% on average starting in July 2026. The hike only applies to licenses sold to PC makers for machines shipped with Windows preinstalled. Retail license prices are unchanged — Windows 11 Home still costs around $119.99 and Windows 11 Pro $168.99 in the Amazon Microsoft Store.
What we know so far
Microsoft raises OEM licensing rates every year, and the annual adjustment usually stays in the low single digits. A PC industry executive told UDN that this year’s jump to 7–10% is “significant compared to previous years.”
A few details worth knowing:
- The exact increase varies by manufacturer. Microsoft negotiates rates individually with each OEM, based on shipment volume and machine categories.
- Higher CPU tiers pay more. Licensing fees scale with processor class, so premium laptops and desktops absorb a larger absolute cost than budget machines.
- Microsoft has not commented. When Windows Central reached out, the company declined to respond — so all figures remain reported numbers, not official ones.
Why now?
The timing is awkward, and that’s probably not a coincidence.
The PC industry has spent 2026 absorbing a component cost crisis driven by AI. Datacenter demand for memory has squeezed supply chains, pushing RAM, SSD, and processor prices up throughout the year — with analysts warning the situation may worsen before it stabilizes. ASUS products were already averaging roughly 30% more in May 2026 than in Q4 2025, and Microsoft itself raised Surface prices this year.
On top of that sits the Windows 10 end-of-support wave. Since official support ended on October 14, 2025, millions of users have been shopping for replacement machines — a demand window in which PC vendors have little choice but to accept Microsoft’s terms, and some pricing power of their own.
Microsoft hasn’t explained the size of the increase, and without a statement, the honest answer is: it’s an annual adjustment that happened to land in the worst possible market.
Will PC prices go up?
Probably, though the license fee is a minor factor next to memory.
A Windows license is a small slice of a laptop’s bill of materials — RAM and storage inflation dwarfs it. But manufacturers are already stretched thin, and UDN reports the higher fees are showing up in laptop pricing. Acer and ASUS both project PC prices in Taiwan to rise about 5% in Q3 2026 once hardware, software, and logistics costs are combined.
The demand side doesn’t help. Global PC shipments fell an estimated 4.9% year-over-year in Q2 2026, with only Apple growing. Vendors now face a choice: absorb the costs, cut promotions, or raise prices — and pushing prices up into a shrinking market risks convincing buyers to hold onto their current PCs even longer.
Retail licenses are unaffected — for now
This is the part that matters for anyone who assembles their own machines.
| Edition | Amazon Microsoft Store | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Windows 11 Home | $119.99 | Unchanged |
| Windows 11 Pro | $168.99 | Unchanged |
The OEM hike touches only the agreements Microsoft signs with Dell, HP, Lenovo, ASUS, and their peers. If you’re activating a self-built PC or reactivating an older machine, a retail license bought today costs exactly what it did before July. Prices vary by country and taxes, but the Amazon Microsoft Store figures above were confirmed in September 2026.
What to do if you need a license
Two scenarios, two answers.
Buying a new prebuilt PC or laptop? Do nothing different. The Windows license is bundled into the price, and that’s still the cheapest legitimate way to get Windows on a machine. The OEM increase is already baked into the sticker price — you can’t shop around it.
Building a PC yourself, or reviving an old one? A retail license is the way to go, and there’s no rush created by this news. Buy from Microsoft’s official storefront on Amazon — on Amazon listings, check that the item ships from and is sold by Amazon.com to avoid gray-market keys. One trade-off to know: marketplace listings for cheap “OEM System Builder” packages cost less, but those keys are tied to one machine and can’t be transferred when you replace the PC, and Microsoft provides no support for them. A retail key moves with you to your next build.
If you’re keeping an aging Windows 10 machine alive instead of replacing it, the ESU program remains the low-cost stopgap while PC prices settle.
Sources & further reading
