A new rumor suggests that Microsoft will offer a new version of the Windows 11 26H1 feature early next year, but chances are you won't be able to get it.
According to rumors from well-known tipster PhantomofEarth, Microsoft will treat the 2026 Windows 11 releases much the same as the 2025 release: features will be rolled out in the Windows 11 26H1 PC release, but only “enabled” in the second half of the year as part of the Windows 11 26H2 release support package.
However, according to the tipster, only a small group of computers will be able to test these new features. People who own computers Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite or Elite Extreme chips inside.
The way Microsoft launches new features can be confusing. New features will debut in one of four Windows 11 Insider channels: the Developer and Canary channels focus on more experimental features, while the Beta and Release Preview channels focus on testing features that debut in the stable channel, which is the PC market as a whole.
Currently, all of the various features tested by Microsoft in the first half of 2025 are in development. officially superseded as part of Windows 11 25H2. But chances are these features were quietly pre-loaded onto your PC earlier this year. Therefore, when we write about “enabling” the new Start menu in Windows 11 25H2This simply means downloading a small “enable” update that signals Windows that it's time to enable these 25H2 features. If Phantomofearth is right, then Microsoft is going to do the same with the 2026 releases of Windows 11.
Moreover, we thought that Microsoft was trying its best to accommodate all the delays associated with its Copilot+ features (for example Microsoft Recall) now looks more conscious.
With the launch of Copilot+ for PC, which struggled with low sales “Microsoft has essentially turned Windows on Snapdragon into its own beta channel, using the onboard NPU as a way to test new features. But The latest Microsoft Copilot features are also for all PCsnot just those with NPU. This is the ultimate goal. ( Windows ML release is designed to route AI functions to any available hardware on your PC, which helps.)
But if PhantomofEarth is right, it looks like new Windows features will continue to be tested on Windows on Arm first, and then be ported to other PCs over time.
Neovin noted that Fantomofert's latest statement appeared as a comment in his YouTube Review new features of Windows 11 25H2, which right now puts them in the “rumor” category. But this is one of those rumors that seems plausible. However, it does make you wonder what this means for competing processors like Intel's Lunar Lake and upcoming Panther Lake chips, as well as AMD's Ryzen AI (Strix Point and upcoming Gorgon Point), which also have competing NPUs.
In any case, Microsoft will hopefully continue to clarify what new Windows features are coming, when, and for which processor platform.
