The Hot Take: Snapdragon gets it's own windows. Makes me think they haven't converged code like Apple has with iOS/iPadOS/Mac OS.
Microsoft has finally confirmed what we reported in February 2026: Windows 11 26H2 is shipping this year, and itâs not a major release, as the company is trying to make Windows updates more predictable. It means this yearâs feature update will be similar to Windows 11 25H2 and install via an enablement package (eKB).
Windows 11 hasnât received a major feature update since 2024. Windows 11 24H2 was the last major update, and it was released on October 1, 2024. In 2025, Microsoft rolled out Windows 11 25H2, but it was based on the same underlying platform code as version 24H2, which means it doesnât come with additional features.
In fact, if you use Windows 11 25H2 or 24H2, you have access to the same set of features and improvements, including the monthly cumulative updates. But Windows 11 25H2 reset the OS life cycle, which means itâs supported for an additional year compared to version 24H2.
Windows 11 24H2âs support ends on October 13, 2026, while version 25H2 is supported until October 12, 2027.
Weâre going to see the same approach repeated in 2026. As Windows Latest previously exclusively reported in February 2026, Windows 11 26H2 references have already begun appearing in recent preview builds as an eKB (enablement package), a 200KB update that simply flips the OS version and build number.
Now, in new documentation, Microsoft has said Windows 11 26H2 is being prepared for a fall 2026 rollout, which I believe is October 2026.
âThe next annual update for Windows 11 is coming soonâŚ. continues our focus on delivering a predictable, low-disruption update experience for organizations and IT professionals,â Microsoft noted.
Microsoft usually prefers releasing feature updates in October, but in some cases, it could begin shipping as early as the last week of September or as late as the last week of October, with the majority getting the update during the holiday season.
If youâre already on Windows 11 24H2 or 25H2, this yearâs feature update wouldnât feel any different, and itâll install in less than 5 minutes. In fact, the size of enablement packages is typically under 500KB, so in most cases, youâll have your PC updated to Windows 11 26H2 in just 2 minutes.
Windows 11 26H2 requires a single reboot to finish installing, and it does not come with any visible differences.
How long is Windows 11 26H2 supported?
Windows 11 26H2 is supported until October 2028 for Home, Pro, Pro EDU, and Pro for Workstations editions.
In the case of enterprises, if you have Windows 11 Enterprise, Education, or IoT Enterprise, youâll continue to get updates until October 2029.
This is a standard update cycle where consumers get 24 months of support, while businesses get an extra year.
Windows 11 26H2 system requirements
If your device is already on Windows 11 24H2 or 25H2, youâll be upgraded to Windows 11 26H2 smoothly later this year. It does not come with any new hardware requirements. It still requires 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and a 1GHz or faster 64-bit dual-core processor.
However, thereâs another update called Windows 11 26H1, which requires new silicon, such as Nvidia N1 (RTX Spark) and Snapdragon X2. But donât worry, youâre not really missing out on anything. Windows 11 26H1 is based on a new platform release, so itâs different from 24H2, 25H2, or 26H2, but it doesnât come with exclusive features.
In either case, thereâs nothing really new. Windows will be getting new features, but not via these annual updates. Instead, all the major changes will ship every month via cumulative updates. For example, an upcoming Patch Tuesday update will add support for a movable taskbar. A recent Windows update added support for Low Latency Profile, which is a major change.
These types of major changes were previously shipped with annual feature updates, but now theyâre bundled with monthly releases.
I asked Microsoft if thereâs any particular reason why itâs been skipping âmajorâ feature updates in favor of these minor enablement packages for the past two years, and it told me that itâs supposed to make it easier for customers, particularly enterprises.
As a follow-up, I asked if the trend would continue into 2027 with version 27H2, and Microsoft neither denied nor confirmed it.
The post Microsoft confirms Windows 11 26H2 for fall 2026 release, reveals supported PCs and other details appeared first on Windows Latest
The Hot Take: They're the only manufacturer in an industry they monopolize. I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding...
U.S. Commerce Secretary Lutnick expresses concerns in a conversation with ASML executives that China has an EUV lithography system as ASML denies shipping such scanners to the PRC.
The Hot Take: Making the CPU important again on the x86 platform.
ACE, the upcoming set of x86 Extensions defined by both AMD & Intel, has seen the latest spec release, focusing on AI acceleration. AMD & Intel Focus on AI Acceleration Through Next-Gen x86 Architectures That Are ACE Compliant Last year, Intel and AMD partnered to strengthen the x86 ecosystem through their "x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group" initiative. The plan was to offer a standardized set of features across architectures to make x86 accessible, scalable, and compatible with future requirements. Four key features were announced: FRED, AVX10, ChkTag, and ACE. Now, the latest ACE "AI Compute Extensions" specifications have been published by AMD [âŚ]Read full article at https://wccftech.com/amd-intel-arm-x86-with-ace-matrix-multiply-engines-low-precision-ai-formats-future-cpus/
By ckasprzak | TkOut
| June 19, 2026 | Hardware, Intel
The Hot Take: Interesting, I wonder if this means Intel is going to break into SSD and Memory again to address the "shortages".
Intel has appointed Seok-Hee Lee, the former chief executive of memory maker SK hynix and battery maker SK On, as executive vice president of Intel Foundry.
By ckasprzak | TkOut
| June 17, 2026 | ARM, Hardware
The Hot Take: I question this very much.
Servers employing x86 chips from AMD and Intel now account for little more than half of server revenue, according to the latest figures from IDC. In its Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker for Q1 2026, the analyst firm says that non-x86 server revenue hit $58.7 billion, representing a startling increase of 107 percent over the same period last year. The results mean that those non-x86 servers make up 47.9 percent of the market revenue, closing in rapidly on the amount of cash spent on x86 boxes. The growth in non-x86 turnover is likely thanks to systems powered by Nvidiaâs AI chips featuring Arm cores. Although there is high demand for these, they also cost a pretty packet compared to an average datacenter box. In fact, IDC noted a stark divide shaping the worldwide server market, which reached $122.6 billion in vendor revenue during this period, a 30.4 percent increase year-on-year. On the one hand, AI infrastructure investment from hyperscalers and large cloud providers is ârunning at a scale that shows no sign of plateauing,â while everything else - the non-accelerated segment - faces a supply-constrained environment, thanks largely to that AI infrastructure spending. As Reg readers will know, memory chipmakers are prioritizing manufacturing capacity for higher margin products for AI servers and GPUs, starving the rest of the market of supply. Component availability, particularly DRAM and NAND flash, is limiting near-term shipment volumes from vendors, IDC says, though order pipelines are strong. Supply of the right chips is therefore the chief limiting factor on server market growth. Revenue for x86 servers still reached $63.9 billion, but this was a decline of 2.9 percent due to those component supply constraints impacting shipment volumes. GPU accelerated servers pulled in $68.9 billion for the vendors, up nearly 25 percent year-on-year, while other accelerated servers surged a massive 122 percent to $17.7 billion. The latter category represents AI systems configured with FPGAs or ASICs rather than GPUs. IDCâs spin on the data is that AI infrastructure adoption is no longer limited to hyperscalers, thanks to developments such as government-led sovereign AI initiatives, while the non-accelerated segment tells a more nuanced story. Although revenue here declined, underlying demand remains strong, but many enterprise customers are holding out against elevated component prices. âCompanies arenât pulling back from infrastructure investment; theyâre just not getting servers as fast as they need them. Longer term, emerging workloads, including agentic applications and physical AI ecosystems, will keep demand elevated well beyond the current cycle,â commented IDC research director Juan Seminara. The firm says it expects to see supply normalization beginning in 2027, with capacity relief coming as chipmakers bring new fabrication plants online. Across the last two decades, non-x86 servers accounted for less than ten percent of revenue, and most of that went to IBM which emerged as the last vendor of proprietary servers as Oracle lost interest in Sun and the likes of HPE decided they couldn't sustain businesses built on exotic architectures. ÂŽ
By ckasprzak | TkOut
| June 17, 2026 | CPU, Hardware
The Hot Take: Well now....
AMD appears to have yanked a memory encryption protection from consumer Ryzen chips, leaving users to play firmware detective.
For those who came in late: a decade ago, AMD added Transparent Secure Memory Encryption (TSME) to higher-end CPUs to protect systems from cold-boot attacks and other physical exploits that can siphon data from memory. The feature encrypts everything stored in RAM, making stolen memory contents useless to attackers with physical access.
Over time, TSME turned up on cheaper Ryzen consumer chips, and privacy-minded users reasonably started treating it as part of the package.
Recently, without warning, that protection vanished from lower-end AMD chips in a way Windows users could not easily detect and Linux users could spot only with some technical faffing.
According to Ars Technica AMD has not explained why TSME worked on these CPUs or fully confirmed the change, saying only that TSME âis a security feature only applied to PRO CPUs as part of AMD PRO Technologies.â
In April, Linux hobbyist Ben Kilpatrick installed a new operating system on a Ryzen 7 9700X system and ran Host Security ID to check firmware and hardware protections. He found HSI reporting âencrypted RAM: not supportedâ, even though TSME had been enabled in BIOS and had previously shown as âencryptedâ.
Kilpatrickâs digging led MSI engineers to test consumer Ryzen chips on MSI and Gigabyte boards, where older AGESA firmware enabled TSME but newer AGESA 1.2.7.0 showed it as unsupported.
Pro Ryzen chips supported TSME across motherboard brands and firmware versions, which rather spoiled the idea that this was just a random board-level wobble.
âThe big outstanding question is whether this is a deliberate policy decision by AMD to restrict TSME to PRO chips, or an unintentional regression that was introduced in AGESA 1.2.7.0,â Kilpatrick told Ars.
After Kilpatrick filed a bug report on AMDâs public engineering GitHub, AMD fellow software engineer Tom Lendacky suggested toggling the BIOS option and then speaking to MSI if that failed.
AMD senior principal software engineer Mario Limonciello gave similar advice, telling him: âIf it still doesnât work; then yes please report it to your board vendor to debug.â
Kilpatrick later said MSI had been told by AMD that TSME was officially supported only on PRO processors, and tests showed TSME active on a Ryzen 9945 PRO but off on a consumer Ryzen 9800X3D.
MSIâs ABL dump comparisons reportedly showed the internal AGESA flag DfIsTsmeEnabled returning FALSE for consumer chips, even when TSME was set to AUTO or ENABLED in BIOS.
Kilpatrick pressed AMD on whether this was a silicon limitation or a firmware policy decision, because one is fixed and the other could be changed.
Limonciello replied: âMy apologies, but I donât have any more information to share on this topic.â
This is embarrassing as Lendacky said in 2020 that a consumer Ryzen 3700X âshould support TSMEâ, and in 2025 recommended using it if the BIOS exposed the option.
Silicon-level security expert Joe Fitzgerald said: âBut I really feel like an explanation should be in order, even if it was âTSME was never supposed to be supported. We did ship some firmwares that erroneously enabled it, but you shouldnât use them since we canât guarantee itâll work properly.ââ
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The Hot Take: I really hope something comes soon to alleviate all this nonsense AI is causing.
US-based AI company, Tensordyne, has announced the successful tape-out of its Napier chip, which it claims to demolish NVIDIA's Blackwell & Rubin chips with leading token throughput and efficiency. Tensordyneâs new Napier AI Chip arrives with one clear mission: to make NVIDIAâs Blackwell and Rubin chips look considerably less impressive The Napier chip will be the core component of the Tensordyne Napier TDN system, which is designed in collaboration with Broadcom and HPE Juniper Networks. The Napier platform has one goal: to unify AI through novel logarithmic AI math, a tightly integrated memory architecture, and a high-performance scale-up interconnect that [âŚ]Read full article at https://wccftech.com/tensordyne-3nm-napier-ai-chip-13x-higher-token-throughput-blackwell-blazes-past-rubin/
The Hot Take: This is an interesting collaboration between the two seeing intel keeps saying they're not going to stop GPU development.
Intel's Serpent Lake SoCs featuring NVIDIA's RTX GPU tiles as integrated graphics are expected to roll out by Q1 2028. Intel & NVIDIA's Co-Developed Serpent Lake SoCs Featuring Next-Gen CPU & GPU Architectures Rumored For Q1 2028 Last year, Intel announced that it was working with NVIDIA on a custom SoC that would incorporate NVIDIA's RTX GPU tiles. Intel stated that these SoCs will power a wide range of PCs that require the integration of these levels of CPUs & GPUs together into a single package. It looks like we have our first timeline of when these SoCs will be [âŚ]Read full article at https://wccftech.com/intel-serpent-lake-socs-with-nvidia-rtx-gpu-tiles-reportedly-arrive-in-q1-2028/
The Hot Take: Interesting features, we'll see if they pull me from eM Client which has all these now. Minus .pst files.
Outlook âNew,â which is based on Outlook.com, is far from a decent email client. While it has come a long way, the new Outlook doesnât feel as good as the Classic version, and it still lacks many features most users want. Microsoft now says itâs adding advanced support for Mail Merge, .PST, and a new single view for all accounts to the new Outlook app.
Outlook for Windows and web is getting the All accounts view in August 2026
I asked Microsoft for more details, and it told me that Outlook on Windows 11 (and 10) will get support for a feature called âAll accounts view,â similar to a Gmail feature that lets you see emails from all your accounts in a single inbox.
This feature is handy for those who manage their personal and professional inboxes in the Outlook app.
The all-accounts view is also called Unified Inbox, and when it rolls out to Outlook for Windows or web in August 2026, youâll be able to see emails from all your accounts in a single view. That means you donât have to switch back and forth between different inboxes, as long as you pay attention to the labels.
It also means you no longer have to merge mailboxes to see everything in one place.
Outlookâs All accounts view has advanced controls too, so itâs not just about viewing your emails or responding to them. Youâll be able to interact with emails as youâd do in their dedicated inbox. This means you can also delete, archive, move, or mark messages as read across all your mailboxes.
You donât have to repeat these actions in their respective mailboxes.
Windows Latest also found that the All accounts view will have Copilot integration too, and it could be a bit useful. For example, when youâve enabled All accounts view and use Copilot to search emails, the updated immersive search experience will surface content from the All accounts view.
At the moment, you cannot add a shared mailbox to the All accounts inbox, and itâs also not possible to use cross-account search. These features will be added to the All accounts inbox later this year.
As mentioned at the outset, Microsoft plans to ship the All accounts inbox to everyone in August 2026, but given the companyâs track record, it can also get delayed.
New Outlook is making it easier to access Favorite folders
New Outlook always had the ability to set folders as âFavorite,â but you canât switch between Favorite folders without opening the full folder pane.
With a new update, you can now view the favorite folders in a vertical list and access folders you use most with just a single click. Also, counts appear directly, so you can see which folder needs your attention.
âItâs a familiar experience for anyone who loved favorites in classic Outlook, now built right into the new Outlook,â Microsoft noted in a document.
This feature is stated to arrive in September, 2026.
More control over the unread count for the folder pane
Microsoft is testing a new toggle that gives you greater control over the unread count in your folder pane for each folder. Youâll be able to choose whether each folder should have the unread count visible in the folder pane. You can also choose to show the total item count instead, so itâs totally up to you.
Right now, Outlook can display the count for each folder, but it canât tell you the total count for all folders. To use the new feature, you just need to right-click any folder and choose between the total or unread count.
New Outlook is adding Mail Merge support
Microsoft is finally testing advanced Mail Merge support in New Outlook for Windows and the web after a long delay.
In an update spotted by Windows Latest, Microsoft said itâs improving Mail Merge so that each recipient will receive an individual email with only their address in the recipient field. Microsoft will also allow you to personalize emails by replacing fields with recipient-specific values, such as the personâs name.
Mail Merge will release in September 2026, while other features could begin rolling out earlier:
Youâll be able to import your calendars and even contacts using a .pst file (July 2026)
You can select non-consecutive dates in the calendarâs mini month using two new keyboard shortcuts, which are Shift+Click or CTRL+Click (July 2026)
Outlook will support basic conditional formatting rules (July 2026).
It is worth noting that the update timeline could always change, and Microsoft has planned several changes for Outlook in June/July. I expect most features to be available to everyone by August 2026.
What else do you want Microsoft to add to the new Outlook for Windows or the web? Let me know in the comments below.
The post Ditch Outlook Classic? Microsoft confirms major New Outlook update with 5 features, all-accounts view, mail merge, .PST, and more appeared first on Windows Latest
The Hot Take: I really feel we need an investigation into all these memory manufacturers as I feel they aren't allocating all this ram for Ai like they way they are. History just repeating its self I think.
Amid the unrelenting demand for AI infrastructure, SK Hynix, the worldâs largest supplier of HBM memory used in high-end GPUs, now expects to triple its wafer capacity. You'll just have to wait through two more US presidential elections and then some. All that capacity wonât come online until 2034, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won told Nikkei Asia in a recent interview. SK Hynixâs valuation has soared in recent months. The company is one of three major producers of NAND flash and DRAM memory, large quantities of which are required to support the burgeoning AI inference market. Samsung and Micron are the other two major players in this space. This demand has led to skyrocketing memory prices for consumer DRAM and SSDs, some of which have more than tripled in price compared to this time last year. SK Hynix and the other major memory makers meanwhile have seen their revenues explode. Chey's comments come just a week after SK Hynix said that it planned to double its production capacity within the next five years. âOur calculations show that our wafer capacity will double within five years. But honestly once all these facilities are built, it wonât just double, it will triple by around 2034,â Chey told Nikkei. SK is in the process of bringing four additional wafer fabs online, with the first phase reportedly on track to come online as early as 2027. The South Korean memory slinger had previously planned to ramp production of these facilities over the next two decades, but has pulled in its timeline in hopes of satiating AIâs memory addiction. âThere is currently no way to move faster than this,â Chey told the newswire. While much of this capacity will be built on SKâs home turf, the company is exploring its options for overseas manufacturing, with Japan being one of the potential destinations, with Chey calling it an âexcellentâ candidate due to its robust semiconductor supply chains. Unfortunately, the buildout is unlikely to drive down memory prices for consumers any time soon. As we previously reported, memory prices are not expected to peak until later this year at the earliest. Analysts warn that memory prices are more likely to plateau going into 2027 rather than plummeting like weâve seen in past DRAM and NAND boom-bust cycles. These boom-bust cycles have been a fact of life for commodity electronics manufacturers, like SK Hynix and Samsung, for years. Prices typically spike as inventories are drawn down and crater as new capacity is brought online. On the one hand, AI infrastructure demand has helped to stabilize this to some extent. On the other hand, the AI boom kicked off in 2022 at what was arguably the worst possible time. "This demand started in the Valley for the DRAM industry. That makes financially trying to build additional capacity really challenging," TechInsights analyst James Sanders told El Reg late last year. Business is once again booming for memory vendors presenting ample opportunities for labor disputes over competition as well as fab expansions. Unfortunately, thereâs no changing the fact that the fastest anyone can bring a leading edge memory fab online is about three years. ÂŽ