Windows 12 release date revealed

According to a new report from WC, Windows 12 is almost certainly in production and is expected to be released next fall, when Microsoft will be betting everything on artificial intelligence.

Windows 12 is said to be internally codenamed "Hudson Valley". Microsoft is already testing its early code and platform work in the Windows Insider Canary channel.

Known leaks suggest that the new version of Windows will be available in RTM in April 2024, and will not be fully finalized until August, with a major update being pushed out to WIndows 11 users in September or October.

The focus of Windows 12 will be on next-generation AI experiences, with the introduction of an AI-powered core component of Windows Shell, augmented by an "advanced co-driver" Copilot AI assistant that can run continuously in the background to enhance searches, launch apps quickly, or workflows, the sources said, Understanding context, and more.

As we all know, when Windows 11 was launched, Microsoft dramatically increased the system requirements, resulting in many Windows 10 computers not being able to upgrade.

Windows 12 is focused on upgrading next-generation AI experiences, and it's all about AI, which will be "woven and integrated" throughout the operating system, with most of those experiences requiring new NPU hardware to run, and a significant increase in computer hardware requirements.

That said, some features (mainly AI) will be limited to AI PCs with NPUs, and not all computers will be able to get the full experience, which may not be friendly to some older computers.

Currently, Windows 10 has about 1 billion users and Windows 11 has about 400 million users. How to get a large number of stock users to upgrade Windows 12 will be the most important issue for Microsoft to consider.