Will Microsoft release Windows 12 in 2024 and what would the release mean for Windows 11? Microsoft hasn’t announced Windows 12 publicly at this point, but several sources inside and outside Microsoft have indicated that a Windows refresh is coming in 2024.
The logical name for such a refresh is Windows 12, but Microsoft could surprise everyone and pick a different name.
A report by Taiwan’s Commercial Times (CTEE) claims that Microsoft is going to release Windows 12 by June 2024. A strong focus of Windows 12 is AI and AI PCs will come out in the same year according to the report. While no further explanation on AI PCs is provided, this may include PCs with dedicated AI chips.
Microsoft unveiled its first AI chip, the Microsoft Azure Maia AI Accelerator. The chip is “optimized for artificial intelligence (AI) tasks and generative AI”. It is a chip designed for datacenters, and Microsoft plans to integrate it into its datacenters in 2024.
The CTEE report doesn’t attribute the statement that Windows 12 will be available in June 2024. It mentions several leaders of Taiwan’s technology sector in the article though, including executives at ASUS, Quanta Computer and Gigabyte.
Intel’s CFO also claimed that Windows 12 would come out in 2024 recently.
Work on Windows 11 continues at the same time. The first mention of Windows 11 version 24H2, the next feature update for Windows 11, was discovered this week.
Windows enthusiast Xeno (via Neowin) published screenshots of a new policy that references the next version of Windows 11. The policy, Enable Delegated Managed Service Account logons requires at least Windows 11 version 24H2 according to the screenshot.
Closing Words
With Windows 11 version 24H2 in development, will Microsoft really release Windows 12 in 2024 as well?
Microsoft has a few options when it comes to releasing a new version of Windows. Unless it is making Windows 12 the next feature update for Windows 11, it will continue to support Windows 11 for the foreseeable future when a dedicated new version of Windows, Windows 12, is released in 2024.
The release of Windows 11 version 23H2 guarantees 2 years of updates for Home users, which would mean support ends in October 2025. Enterprise customers get support until November 2026.
It would not be uncommon for Microsoft to release Windows 11 version 24H2 in the second half of 2024 and Windows 12 around the same time.
The mention of June 2024 in the CTEE article doesn’t necessarily mean that Windows 12 will be released in that month. It could also indicate the release of the RTM version or even a preview.
Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system has about 2 years of support left before it is being discontinued. While there is a good chance that Microsoft will offer support extensions for Enterprise customers and business, it likely won’t offer the same to consumers.
Summary
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