As the article notes, the increase seems to be driven mainly by users in Asia, where recycling and reusing older hardware is quite common. I wonder if third-party companies are offering extended security patches there, which could make affordable second-hand Windows 7 machines more appealing for people who just need them for browsing or light tasks. It would certainly make sense given recent fiascos and Microsoft’s current stance on AI, especially with generative AI being used to develop system-level code.
There is a rational reason for it - some types of software expect Ubuntu during their installation and usage (especially game server panels for some reason), and I’d imagine they wouldn’t work properly if Mint was closer to Debian than Ubuntu.