14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s Windows 10 feature update strategy includes two different releases every year, one in the spring and another one in the fall.
More recently, the company has further tweaked this approach by switching to major updates in the first months of the year and a smaller release, often considered more of a service pack, in October or November.
But as Microsoft’s plans evolve and new products are developed, the Windows 10 update schedule is also being refined.
Windows 10X, the dual-screen operating system that will eventually power single-screen devices too, is projected to launch in the spring of 2020, and this is the moment when Microsoft might be changing how it updates Windows 10 too, according to a recent report.
More specifically, what Microsoft plans to do is switch to a single update per year for Windows 10, as it wants to also release major updates for Windows 10X every 12 months.
Windows 10X and Windows 10
So basically, the spring feature update would only be shipped for Windows 10X, while devices running Windows 10 would get a pack of improvements in the fall.
If this happens, the first and only update that Windows 10 devices will get in 2021 is projected to go live in the fall as Windows 10 version 21H2. Windows 10 version 21H1, which was the update supposed to see daylight in the spring of the next year, won’t happen at all, with its release schedule to be replaced by the one for Windows 10X.
This is likely an approach that Microsoft wants to use going forward, so beginning with 2021, every spring release will be specifically aimed at Windows 10X, while everyone else running the full version of Windows 10 will have to wait until the fall for a feature update.
The rest of the updates, such as the quality updates, also known as monthly cumulative updates, will continue to arrive just like they do right now.