Windows 12

Intel and Microsoft could be preparing for Windows 12, at least going by details shared in a recent leak.

As detailed by The Verge, leaker ‘@leaf_hobby‘ — who previously revealed the full specs of Intel’s Xeon chips before launch — shared information about Intel’s upcoming Meteor Lake desktop chips. Intel internally mentions that the next-gen CPUs will support Windows 12, per the leak.

Although the tweet was deleted, The Verge cites details from VideoCardz that Meteor Lake is also expected to include 20 PCIe Gen5 lanes. Intel and Microsoft declined The Verge’s request for comment on the leaks.

Despite there being no official announcement from Microsoft about Windows 12, it’s worth noting that there will likely be a new version of Windows in the near future. The company reportedly moved back to a three-year release cycle after ditching that approach with Windows 10 — with that in mind, Windows 12 could arrive in 2024.

At the same time, Intel’s Meteor Lake is expected later this year or early in 2024, which means the timing would line up with a potential Windows 12 launch. Meteor Lake will be an important milestone for Intel as the company moves to its ‘Intel 4’ 7nm node and to a ‘chiplet’ design with separate dies for the CPU cores, integrated graphics and input/output. Intel previously said it’d push to include AI capabilities as well.

This lends further credence to the Meteor Lake and Windows 12 integration. Again, Microsoft hasn’t provided any details about Windows 12, but the company has made a strong push in AI software, most notably with the ChatGPT-powered Bing Chat, which recently arrived on Windows 11. Microsoft’s head of consumer marketing, Yusuf Mehdi, told The Verge earlier this week that Microsoft was looking at ways to integrate AI-powered features in future versions of Windows too.

Coupled with AMD’s recent Ryzen 7000 mobile chips, which include a dedicated AI engine, it’s no surprise Intel’s working on its own AI capabilities to support Windows features.

Header image credit: Intel

Source: The Verge

Microsoft plans to change the way it rolls out new versions of Windows, which means we could see Windows 12 arrive in 2024.

According to Windows Central (via The Verge), Microsoft is shifting back to a three-year release cycle for Windows after ditching that cadence with Windows 10 in 2015. For those who may not remember, Microsoft positioned Windows 10 as a ‘service’ that would see steady updates. Big new features arrived every two years. Some at the company even went so far as to say Windows 10 was the last version of Windows.

That all changed again when Windows 11 arrived last year. At the time, Microsoft said it would move to an annual update cadence for both Windows 10 and 11. However, Microsoft has been moving away from that plan too, and now seems to ship major features when they’re ready. The Verge notes the next big update, 22H2, is expected to drop in September or October after Microsoft recently finalized the update.

The company reportedly scrapped plans for a similarly large 23H2 update in 2023 and will instead prioritize rolling out new features throughout the year. The shift matches up better with how Microsoft handles its Insider program — currently, the company tests experiments and prototype features more widely than in the past.

Naturally, Microsoft hasn’t officially commented on its Windows plans, and the ‘Windows 12’ name is an assumption (albeit a safe one). The company has used numbers for the last several Windows releases, and it hasn’t adopted a ‘Windows 11.1’ or ‘11.2’ naming system for major updates, so it seems like Windows 12 will be the branding of whatever major release ships in 2024.

Source: Windows Central, The Verge