Windows 12 might be released in June 2024.
According to the Commercial Times (via sibling publications Tom’s Hardware and TechRadar), the topic of Windows 12 came up during the recent Taiwan Medical Technology Exhibition in Taipei. The Taiwanese publication claims Quanta Computer Chairman Barry Lam reportedly said Microsoft will launch the follow-up to Windows 11 “next summer.” If that's true, we could see the operating system as soon as June 2024.
The report also claims that Lam mentioned “AI PCs.” This last bit isn’t surprising given how we’re about to witness the debut of the new Intel Core Ultra chips (which pack an NPU, or Neural Processing Unit, to handle AI-focused workloads) on December 14. Previous Windows 12 rumors have claimed the operating system would double down on AI. If that's the case, an AI-friendly Windows 12 would no doubt utilize the NPU of the Intel Core Ultra or Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips.
Though we’ve heard several sporadic Windows 12 rumors in past months, Microsoft has not officially announced the Windows 11 successor. We’ll undoubtedly see a new version of Windows in the future, but its exact release date is anyone’s guess. Because of that, it’s best to treat this latest report with a healthy amount of skepticism.
Outlook
Windows 11 debuted in 2021 and refined the Windows experience on the best computers and the best Windows laptops. However, it wasn’t met with universal enthusiasm by many Windows 10 users. That could explain why Microsoft might be eager to release a successor so soon.
After all, it would only be three years between Windows 11 and Windows 12 compared to six years between Windows 10 to Windows 11. Perhaps the company wants a fresh start, which could give the declining PC and laptop markets a shot in the proverbial arm.
Of course, another possible reason Microsoft might launch Windows 12 in 2024 is to take advantage of the current "AI" arms race in tech. We're expecting to see a bunch of PC hardware optimized for AI coming to market in the year ahead, especially at CES 2024. Microsoft itself is leading the charge, and just recently the company invested $10 billion in OpenAI. Given that, releasing an AI-friendly Windows 12 to leverage the power of computers using processors with NPUs makes sense.
Stay tuned for more Windows 12 news as we hear it!
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