Windows 12 will be available on compatible computers in the middle of the year. Microsoft hasn’t confirmed this yet, but it’s clear from comments from Qualcomm and supported by a major new trial.

“The Snapdragon Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon X Elite at the end of last year. The chip is said to be more powerful and economical than x86 processors and should perform at the level of Apple’s ARM chips. Amon states that the first devices with the new processor will appear with a new version of Windows.

Windows 12 actually promises to offer additional support for ARM. This drastic change in which Microsoft adapts the core of the Windows platform. Such an adjustment would justify the name change from Windows 11 to Windows 12.

Suspicious structure

Meanwhile, Microsoft also released Windows Build 27547 in its internal Canary channel. This build number suddenly jumps from 26047. Such a jump historically implies that it is a new version of Windows. Additionally, Microsoft is changing the release channel from Ni_release to Ge_release. In this case, Ge stands for germanium: the code name for the new version of Windows. This situation is also in line with the well-founded rumors of a launch around summer.

It now seems almost certain that a major new Windows version will be released around the middle of this year. The only open question is whether it really is Windows 12. In this case, Microsoft would switch from Windows 11 to Windows 12 quite quickly, while most users are actually still on Windows 10. If the update goes smoothly for existing systems, there is a chance that Microsoft will keep the name Windows 11 for a while.

Windows AI

On the other hand, Microsoft would not only rely on ARM support for the next Windows version, but also on AI. Copilot would be integrated into everything. What this means in practice is still unclear. Maybe it’s getting a lot of local AI features that leverage the AI ​​capabilities of new processors, or maybe it’s AI-hype-inspired marketing that Microsoft is using to promote paid Copilot features.

After all, Redmond doesn’t shy away from using Windows to sell its own products to users, whether they want it or not. Just think of Bing and Edge and the incessant questions for those who use Edge to choose Bing as their default search engine and Bing as their search feature in Windows…

Regardless of the quality of the implementation, a strong dose of AI would justify the jump from Windows 11 to Windows 12 in the naming. Be that as it may, we will know more by the middle of this year. An official announcement will likely come sooner, as Microsoft will also include public insiders in testing the new builds at some point.