After a rough few weeks, Microsoft has promised to make behind-the-scenes platform changes to Windows 11 as it begins testing the next wave of features.
Microsoft has confirmed that it's working on important behind the scenes platform changes for Windows 11 that are expected to ship later this year. Today, the company began testing a new wave of builds in the Insider Dev Channel, which bumps the OS build number ahead of the current production builds and will be where underlying platform work takes place.
"Starting today, the Dev Channel is jumping ahead to receive 26300 series builds ... These 26300 series builds will contain many of the same features and improvements as the 26220 series builds that will continue to be released in the Beta Channel. Over time, we will be making behind-the-scenes platform changes in each build so they may have different known issues because of those changes."
Germanium is the name of the current in-market platform release of Windows 11, and is what the 26300 series of builds is based upon. Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn't say what kind of platform changes are in the works, but given how bad recent Windows updates have been, hopefully the company is planning to address underlying platform stability and rollout issues.
This isn't the first time Microsoft has vowed to make changes to the in-market platform release. Last year, the company began testing 26200 series builds while promising platform changes, which ended up shipping as version 25H2. If history is to repeat itself, the 26300 builds will ultimately end up shipping as 26H2 this fall.
Of course, Microsoft is also planning to ship version 26H1 this spring, exclusively on next-gen Arm devices that are not yet available, that's based on an even newer version of the Windows platform codenamed Bromine. Bromine is much newer than Germanium, which means the latest version of Windows 11 (26H2) will be based on an older version of the Windows platform this fall.
That is as confusing as it sounds, and so it will be interesting to see how Microsoft navigates its platform release schedule going forward. For now, we know that 26300 is now in testing, and will likely ship as version 26H2 this fall for existing Windows 11 PCs, bringing with it as-yet unspecified behind the scenes platform changes.
Insiders who are interested in testing these platform changes can begin testing the 26300 series builds now by checking for updates in Windows Update after enrolling into the Insider Dev Channel. As things currently stand, the Dev Channel and Beta Channel share the same features and known issues.
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Zac Bowden is a Senior Editor at Windows Central and has been with the site since 2016. Bringing you exclusive coverage into the world of Windows, Surface, and hardware. He's also an avid collector of rare Microsoft prototype devices! Keep in touch on Twitter and Threads
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