While Microsoft has officially advertised a “holiday” launch for Windows 11, several of the company’s press images hint at an October release. But even if this rumored launch date is real, Microsoft probably won’t offer you a Windows 11 update until the beginning of 2022—assuming that your PC even meets the operating system’s hardware requirements.
Microsoft’s relied on hints and rumors to build hype ahead of its Windows 11 launch event. The most notable of these hints was the 11:11 timestamp, which Microsoft slipped into tweets and promotional material early this month. The company also hosted its Windows 11 livestream at, you guessed it, 11 AM.
Now diehard Windows fans are finding references to October in Microsoft’s promotional images. The dates October 6th and October 20th repeatedly appear on the Windows 11 taskbar in these images, suggesting a Windows 11 release on one of those two dates (the company could also be hinting at new Surface hardware, or a pre-release livestream to announce additional Windows 11 features).
Windows 11 is due out later in 2021 and will be delivered over several months. The rollout of the upgrade to Windows 10 devices already in use today will begin in 2022 through the first half of that year.
— Windows (@Windows) June 25, 2021
A screencap from the Windows 11 livestream is a bit more direct—it shows a Teams message preview stating “excited to turn it up to 11 … can’t wait for October.” And as noted by The Verge, Walmart is displaying the message “free upgrade to Windows October 2021 when available” in the product description for some of its laptops.
Unfortunately, it may take a long time for Windows 11 to arrive on your PC. The official Windows Twitter account confirmed that its Windows 11 rollout for existing PCs will begin in early 2022, and likely take a few months to reach completion.
Those who want to upgrade to Windows 11 early shouldn’t have any problem doing so, though waiting for the update to officially arrive on their PC will make the installation process a lot less time consuming. Of course, there’s a chance that your PC won’t get the Windows 11 update. Microsoft keeps altering the OS’ hardware requirements, though it’s clear that Windows 11 will offer limited compatibility compared to Windows 10 (which works on some very old computers).
Source: Tom’s Hardware
