Microsoft is reportedly returning to its old scheme of one major Windows release every three years and new features in the interim, which could mean Windows 12 is on the horizon for 2024.
Redmond now plans to “ship 'major' versions of the Windows client every three years, with the next release currently scheduled for 2024, three years after Windows 11 shipped in 2021,” according to Windows Central's Zac Bowden, who has an excellent track record when it comes to these things.
In addition to the three-year cycle, Bowden says the OS development team is instituting “Moments” along the product cycle where they’ll drop new features into released versions of Windows every few months, “up to four times a year.” This suggests that the “Sun Valley 3” update, originally expected for the fall of 2023, is unlikely to appear, though “it's unclear if Microsoft intends to increment the Windows 11 version number to ‘23H2,'" Bowden says.
Will We See Windows 12?
The report suggests that we may see a Windows 12 in 2024. What that will look like is anyone’s guess. Will it look more like Windows 10? Nearly identical to Windows 11? Who knows?
Not that long ago, Microsoft officially announced that it would be doing annual annual updates for both Windows 11 and its older Windows 10. And for Windows 10, the company previously had a semi-annual update schedule. (After declaring in 2015 that it was the "last version of Windows.")
In truth, whether the company says annual, triennial, or monthly updates, the OS is being updated with important new features, apps, and design elements any time the company deems these are ready, based on real-world testing with the large pool of Windows Insider beta testers.
A great example of this is the News and interests panel that appeared on the Windows 10 taskbar but not as part of any major update. Comparing Windows 10 in 2015 with Windows 10 in 2020 shows significant differences, though the major version name remained Windows 10.
We’ve also seen these in-between feature adds in Windows 11, including the Android app store availability, the weather bug in the taskbar, and the new Media Player app.
Microsoft hasn’t made any official comment on its product roadmap, and as we’ve seen so many times before, it’s possible that it will change again for an even more efficient scheme.