A new rumor suggests that Microsoft will offer a new Windows 11 26H1 feature release early next year — but chances are you won’t be able to get it.
According a to a rumor by noted tipster PhantomofEarth, Microsoft will treat the Windows 11 2026 releases in much the same way that it handled 2025: features will be rolled out in a Windows 11 26H1 release to PCs, but only “enabled” in the second half of the year as part of a Windows 11 26H2 release enablement package.
However, only a small subset of PCs will be able to test these new features, the tipster reports: People who own PCs with Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite or Elite Extreme chips inside.
The way Microsoft launches new features can be confusing. New features debut in one of four Windows 11 Insider channels, with the Developer and Canary channels dedicated to the more experimental features, and the Beta and Release Preview channels aligned towards testing features that will debut in the stable channel, aka the PC market at large.
Right now, all of the various features Microsoft tested in the first half of 2025 are being officially pushed out as part of Windows 11 25H2. But chances are that those features were quietly preloaded on your PC earlier in the year. So when we write about “turning on” the new Start menu in Windows 11 25H2, that means simply downloading a tiny “enablement” update that signals Windows that it’s time to turn on those 25H2 features. If Phantomofearth is correct, that’s the same way that Microsoft is going to handle Windows 11’s 2026 releases, too.
Moreover, what we thought was Microsoft scrambling to accommodate all of the delays associated with its Copilot+ features (such as Microsoft Recall) now appears more deliberate.
With the launch of the Copilot+ PC program — which struggled with low sales — Microsoft essentially turned Windows on Snapdragon into its own beta channel, using the built-in NPU as a way to test new features. But Microsoft’s latest Copilot features also target all PCs, not just those with an NPU. That’s the end goal. (The release of Windows ML is designed to route AI features to whatever hardware your PC has available, which helps.)
But if PhantomofEarth is correct, it sounds like new Windows features will continue being tested on Windows on Arm first, then moved to other PCs over time.
Neowin noted that Phantomofearth’s latest claim appears as a comment in his YouTube overview of the new Windows 11 25H2 features, which places this squarely into the “rumor” category for right now. But it’s one of those rumors that sounds plausible. It does make you wonder, however, what this means for rival processors like Intel’s Lunar Lake and upcoming Panther Lake chips, plus AMD’s Ryzen AI (Strix Point and the upcoming Gorgon Point) which also have competing NPUs inside them.
In any event, Microsoft will hopefully continue to clarify which new Windows features are arriving when, and for which processor platform.
Author: Mark Hachman
Source: PCWorld
Reviewed By: Editorial Team
