Microsoft has officially confirmed what we reported over the past few weeks: Windows 12 isn’t happening in 2024, and the next version of Windows is “Windows 11 version 24H2”, codenamed Hudson Valley.
Windows Latest had spotted references to “Windows 11 24H2” in support documents, and Microsoft has now officially confirmed the update. In a new blog post announcing Sudo for Windows, Microsoft noted that testers in the Dev/Canary channels will notice “Windows 11 version 24H2” in Settings, Winver and other places.
This confirms the big update of the year is called “Windows 11 24H2”, and not “Windows 12”. Windows 11 24H2 is supposed to be the biggest “AI upgrade” for the OS and will carry a Build number in the 26xxx range. You’ll notice the updated version and numbers in Settings > System > About after installing Build 26052 or newer.
“This denotes that Windows 11, version 24H2 will be this year’s annual feature update, Microsoft noted.
“Windows 11 will have an annual feature update cadence that releases in the second half of the calendar year,” the company clarified, adding that it will continue to focus on the annual feature update approach.
Even though companies like Qualcomm suggested Microsoft might release something like Windows 12, Microsoft has decided to stick with Windows 11 for now.
So does that mean bigger changes are not expected? Well, not really. It is important to understand that the branding of Windows releases isn’t important.
Even though the next version of Windows isn’t named Windows 12, but rather “Windows 11 2024 Update,” it doesn’t mean there won’t be significant updates or changes. The names and branding of the operating system are chosen by the marketing team, which means they can decide on any name that fits their strategy.
Windows has a new leadership headed by the Microsoft Bing team, which wants more people to try Windows Copilot and other AI features. To achieve this, Microsoft plans to focus on releasing new updates for Windows 11 instead of creating another Windows release like Windows 12.
It is worth noting that Windows 12 has not been cancelled, and it may still happen in 2025 or later. According to sources familiar with the development, Microsoft is also believed to be working on a ChromeOS-like variant of the OS to take on the Chromebooks in the education market.