Now, Windows has not been on a three-year release cycle for some time now. The update cycle for Windows 10 was approximately two releases per year. While Windows 11, released just last year, was slated to receive one major update per year. That’s in addition, of course, to smaller security-related updates.
Will Microsoft still release a major update before Windows 12 in 2024?
The biggest implication of the alleged change, which still hasn’t been announced by Microsoft, is that users wouldn’t be getting a major version update for Windows 11. Instead, sources report that update has been scrapped and Microsoft will wait until Windows 12 to release the next big set of changes in 2024. And that pushes the next major update back by at least a couple of years. The company had reportedly previously expected to update Windows 11 with a big update next year. None of this means that users can’t expect any new features at all. Microsoft will still almost certainly continue releasing those in the lead-up to 2024. Those won’t necessarily be any less impactful either. Previous ‘minor’ updates have included everything from support for Android apps to subsystem changes. While those types of changes aren’t considered to be “major” updates, they still bring a lot to the table for end-users. So this change doesn’t signal Microsoft shifting to a more user-unfriendly cycle. Instead, it points to an alteration that should give the tech company more time to finalize major changes before they arrive. That’s in terms of polish, stability, and usability. Moreover, spacing out the big updates most likely won’t alter the update cycle for those intended to fix bugs. Such as those related to security, privacy, and other key areas.
