Oliver Haslam on July 15, 2022, 6:01 pm

Windows 12 Release Date Could Be In 2024 Says New Report

Windows 12 release date could be set for 2024 according to a new report. Here are the details.

Those who like to get a new version of Windows every year look set to be out of luck soon, with a new report claiming that Microsoft is switching back to its previous three-year release cadence.

Writing for Windows Central, Zac Bowden reports that his sources say that Microsoft will begin shipping new updates every three years, starting with Windows 12 in 2024. That update will arrive three years after 2021’s release of Windows 11.

This means that the originally planned 2023 client release of Windows (codenamed Sun Valley 3) has been scrapped, but that’s not the end of the story. I’m told that with the move to this new development schedule, Microsoft is also planning to increase the output of new features rolling out to users on the latest version of Windows.

Microsoft previously released updates every few years but switched to an annual cadence to allow it to get new updates into the hands of users more quickly. That also matches Apple’s annual updates to macOS, but it now seems that will change.

As part of this change, Microsoft is now expected to ship smaller feature additions through the year rather than waiting for a big update to attach them to, according to the report.

Microsoft has already been trying that out with some features and is now set to roll that approach out further.