“Somehow”?

32-bit Windows still exists.

Not only does it still exist, devices running 32-bit Windows 10 are still actively sold. I purchased one in 2016 (Intel compute stick) and another in 2017 (Ollee D1016W).

Both have 64-bit capable Atom CPUs, but were deliberately shipped with a 32-bit userland (presumably to save on disk space).

Yep. I bought a brand new Windows tablet, what, a year ago? It runs 32-bit Windows.

The interesting thing about those (Z series Atom, right?) is they're 64 bit capable, but have a 32 bit UEFI environment.

Intel hasn't sold a 32bit chip in over 10 years.

These are still in production: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quark

They're essentially a 486 core with some Pentium instructions added.

While technically correct sth. like the Quark is probably not what he meant but some earlier models of the Atom lineup (<= 10y, 2008 onwards) are 32bit chips. There are chips released as late as 2011 [1] which lack 64 bit support.

[1] http://ark.intel.com/products/55663/Intel-Atom-Processor-Z67...

Yes, but machines with 64-bit CPUs are still being sold with 32-bit OSes for various reasons.

One reason being "to run my old 32-bit software".

You are mistaken. 32 bit software runs flawlessly on 64 bit Windows.

Oh, sorry: I meant 16-bit software (which does not run flawlessly on 64-bit Windows but does run on 32-bit Window).

I assume you mean that it does not run at all. 64-bit Windows lacks NTVDM.

that's not true, virtual 8086 mode is gone but you can still execute 16-bit programs fine

Windows 10 running in 32-bit on 64-bit processors manages this without issue, so it can't be the hardware

the real reason is they couldn't be bothered to work around some of the technical issues: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384249.aspx