- Microsoft has confirmed that 26H2 will be a minor update
- It will be a “small activation pack” like Windows 11 25H2
- This means less likelihood of bugs, where important features are rolled out separately in monthly updates – a sensible approach, although that said, 27H2 could be different
Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 11’s next annual update will be another smaller affair, all to avoid a repeat of the chaos surrounding the 24H2 update.
Windows 11 24H2 was the last version of the OS to land with major changes, as 25H2 was a small incremental update – and now it’s confirmed that this will be the case for 26H2 as well.
Windows Latest reports that Microsoft confirmed that Windows 11 26H2 is a “small activation pack” like 25H2 before it.
In reality, this means that the upgrade is essentially a lightweight download with no meaningful features – so isn’t that disappointing?
In short, no, because it’s just a sign of how Microsoft has moved to a more sensible way of working in terms of annual updates for Windows 11.
Analysis: a more stable way of working
Instead of unloading a whole series of new features in the annual update, Microsoft now implements these features in stages throughout the year. And this strategy of trickling important new features into various monthly updates—with the usual controlled rollouts, the pace of which varies depending on how cautious Microsoft is about a given functionality—is a better way to work overall.
Not only does this mean we don’t have to wait until the latter half of each year to receive major new changes to Windows 11, but we also don’t have a massive download and complicated installation to deal with when the H2 update arrives. On top of that, things are more likely to go wrong when a big annual update lands, as we saw with the 24H2 update that suffered a whole bunch of annoying bugs – and I think Microsoft has learned its lesson from this.
So what’s the point of the annual update now? Well, 26H2 provides another marker for support, expanding your ability to get updates. Those still on Windows 11 24H2 should note that support for this version ends in October 2026 – which is when 26H2 should roll out (or just before, perhaps in September) – so those on 24H2 will need to upgrade to 26H2.
That said, the other option with installing a newer version of Windows 11 that is an activation pack is that while it doesn’t pack any new features as such, upgrading to the latest release such as 26H2 can trigger a feature rollout to your PC that you wouldn’t have otherwise gotten. There is no guarantee that you will get anything, but it may well go that way.
All in all, I’d rather Microsoft work this way for the reasons mentioned around the increased stability of piecemeal feature implementation, rather than them arriving in one big lump with the inherent danger of a bunch of gremlins in there.
Microsoft can follow this path because the foundation of the underlying code base remains the same – which has been the case since 24H2 – although at some point it will have to move Windows 11 to a new code base, which is when we’ll see a major update.
And we’ve already had signs that this will happen with next year’s update, and that 27H2 could represent a big change for Windows 11, one that unites the Arm and AMD/Intel (x86) architectures (with the former currently split into its own branch of the OS, on the 26H1 update instead of 26H2).
Hopefully, going forward, Microsoft will still broadly stick to the new philosophy it seems to have embraced, in the form of fewer major updates and more activation packs in between.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds.
The best laptops for all budgets
