Microsoft is delaying its next major Windows release, which it had originally planned for sometime next year, to 2024 — reports Windows Central.
More broadly, Microsoft is returning to a more traditional three-year release cycle for major iterations of Windows. The tech giant launched Windows 11 in 2021, so we won’t see its successor until 2024.
According to Windows Central‘s sources, Microsoft has scrapped the major Windows update it had planned for 2023, which was internally codenamed Sun Valley 3, and is going back to the drawing board for the 2024 release. That said, some of the features from the planned 2023 release will make it into Windows 11 version 22H2, due to ship later this year.
Microsoft is also shifting to a new, more frequent release schedule for new features on its currently in-market versions of Windows. Internally, Microsoft’s new schedule for feature drops is being called “Moments.”
Starting with Windows 11 version 22H2 (Sun Valley 2), Microsoft is kicking off a new “Moments” engineering effort which is designed to allow the company to rollout new features and experiences at key points throughout the year, outside of major OS releases. I hear the company intends to ship new features to the in-market version of Windows every few months, up to four times a year, starting in 2023.
The new schedule will give Microsoft more opportunities to improve Windows throughout the year and allow development teams to ship features they’ve been working on without waiting around for the annual fall release of Windows.
For each of these “Moments,” Microsoft will pack a bunch of new features and OS improvements that Insiders have been testing into a neat little update and roll it out to everyone.
As for the major Windows release that’s now slated for 2024, not much is known at this time. Microsoft is currently in the early planning and engineering stages, and people within the company have referred to it as “Next Valley.”
