There's No Windows 12 in 2026. Here's What Your Refresh Plan Should Actually Look Like.

Microsoft has now confirmed what the rumour mill has been circling for months: there is no Windows 12 release in 2026. Windows 11 continues on its semi-annual cadence with 25H2 already out, and 26H1 and 26H2 on the roadmap. At the same time, Windows 11 version 24H2 (Home and Pro) loses support on October 13, 2026, and version 23H2 (Enterprise and Education) ends November 10, 2026. Office 2021 also reaches end of support on October 13, 2026 — five years to the day after release. That's three end-of-life deadlines bunched into one autumn, and the planning window for them starts now.

What it means for SMBs

The "wait for Windows 12" school of refresh planning is now formally dead. For the next 18-24 months, the only Windows your business will run is Windows 11, and the only path forward is staying current with the H1/H2 feature updates. That's straightforward for businesses already on Microsoft 365 with automatic update rings configured. It's less straightforward for the ones with legacy line-of-business apps that haven't been recertified since 23H2.

October 13 is the date that matters. If you're on Windows 11 24H2 and don't move to 25H2 or later, you stop receiving security patches. Same date, the Office 2021 perpetual licence stops getting security updates. For a business that bought Office 2021 outright to avoid the subscription, that's the day that decision starts costing money — every unpatched Office vulnerability disclosed after October 13 is yours to live with.

The new hardware story is genuinely interesting this year. Snapdragon X2 Plus and X2 Elite laptops started shipping in volume in early 2026, and the Arm-based Copilot+ PC ecosystem is finally a credible business choice. Battery life is multi-day, AI features run on-device, and the price points are competitive with Intel and AMD equivalents. The catch is compatibility: niche line-of-business software, specialised peripherals, and some VPN clients still don't run well on Arm. Test before you standardise.

The slow-moving danger is the business that's still on Windows 10 ESU (Extended Security Updates) and was planning to skip Windows 11 entirely. Windows 10 ESU consumer enrolment costs are climbing, and there is no version of this plan that doesn't end in a Windows 11 migration. The longer you delay, the more painful the eventual migration becomes.

What to do about it

Three things worth putting on the planning calendar:

• Inventory every Windows endpoint by version this month. You can't plan a refresh you can't measure. Microsoft Endpoint Manager, Intune, or even a one-time PowerShell sweep gives you the picture. Anything still on Windows 10 or Windows 11 22H2 needs a migration path.
• Decide on Office 2021 versus Microsoft 365 before October. If your business uses Office heavily, the subscription is usually the right call by year three — but the math depends on user count and which apps you actually need. Run the calculation, don't default.
• If you're buying laptops between now and Q1 2027, pilot one Arm-based Copilot+ PC. Buy one Snapdragon X2 unit, give it to the most peripheral-light user on your team, and run it for 30 days. You'll learn more from that pilot than from any spec sheet.

Where we come in

Endpoint inventory, refresh-cycle planning, and hardware vendor selection are unglamorous but high-leverage work. Most SMBs we work with save 20-30% on their hardware spend by replacing the right machines at the right time, instead of replacing the loudest squeaky wheel under deadline pressure. Reach out if you'd like help running the numbers — we do this regularly through our managed IT and IT consulting work.