Rumors About Windows 12

It should be clear from the start that Microsoft hasn’t officially commented on whether it's developing Windows 12. Some leaks, rumors, and other indicators suggest that we may get Windows 12 in late 2024, but it's looking less and less likely.

A late 2024 release would be much quicker than the move from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Six years passed between the launch of those two OSes, and Windows 11 appeared a little more than two years ago (in October 2021). But prior to Windows 10, major releases did arrive every three years, at least from Windows Vista on, so it's not out of the question for a new version of Windows to be coming relatively soon.

The first inkling that Windows 12 might be coming sooner than expected happened when Microsoft reportedly started implementing a new update cadence for Windows, with major versions released every three years. That same cadence would in theory put a Windows 12 release somewhere in the second half of 2024.

The company previously announced that it would release annual rather than twice-yearly feature updates to Windows. In the second half of 2022, we got the Windows 11 update 22H2, and in 2023 we got 23H2.

Perhaps the strongest evidence for a 2024 release of Windows 12 came in a statement by Intel's chief financial officer in a September interview, in which he predicted a boost in PC sales due to the new version of Windows coming next year. Qualcomm, too, has released statements pointing to Windows 12 in 2024.

Then again, the departure of longtime Windows boss Panos Panay could point to a restructuring of its release schedule. Or the new team might want to wait to put its own stamp on a future release.

Evidence is mounting that we won't see Windows 12 in 2024 at all, though. When those executives say, "the next version of Windows," (none have specifically mentioned "Windows 12"), that word version includes Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2. And in fact, references to a 24H2 version of Windows have been found in Microsoft support documentation.

Eagle-eyed code watchers have noticed references to "subscription edition," "subscription type," and "subscription status" in the code for a Windows Insider build in the Canary channel (the earliest release channel). These references have led to speculation that Microsoft will require a subscription for the OS in the future—and perhaps PC prices would be lower as a result. Further speculation has it that a free, ad-supported version of Windows 12 might be available as well.

But that's truly all just speculation. A stronger possibility is that these references to subscriptions are for business users, similar to the already available Windows 365 Cloud PC option. Even Bowden published an article debunking the subscription rumor.

A subscription requirement would surely result in outrage from longtime Windows users. That's what happened when Adobe Photoshop first moved to a subscription model...only that users eventually paid up, boosting Adobe's profits and enabling the company to develop impressive new features for the imaging software.