Microsoft has confirmed the start and end dates for its special offshoot release of Windows 11 that will only be available on next-gen Arm-based silicon from Qualcomm and NVIDIA. Version 26H1, which is expected to debut next month on the first wave of Snapdragon X2 powered PCs, features an upgraded platform designed to bring up support for ARMv9 on Windows.
Now, the company has confirmed the support lifecycle dates for this special release. Support began on February 10, 2026, and will end of March 14, 2028 for Home and Pro users. For Enterprise and Education users, 26H1 support will end of March 13, 2029, a year later.
This follows the usual lifecycle schedule for in-market versions of Windows 11, being two years for consumer editions and three years for commercial editions of the OS. Notably, there are no plans to ship IoT Enterprise editions of Windows 11 with version 26H1, so there are no lifecycle support dates for that SKU available.
Here's an easy to consume breakdown of the editions and their support cycles on version 26H1.
Edition |
Support Start |
Support End |
|---|---|---|
Home and Pro |
February 10, 2026 |
March 14, 2028 |
Enterprise and Education |
February 10, 2026 |
March 13, 2029 |
Windows 11 version 26H1 is expected to remain at feature parity with version 25H1, but under the hood sources say it's a version of Windows 11 that's been specifically optimized for Qualcomm's and NVIDIA's upcoming Arm-based silicon. The first Snapdragon X2 PCs are expected to ship with 26H1 as soon as next month, and NVIDIA's N1X based laptops are expected to start shipping later this year.
Microsoft has already confirmed that version 26H1 will not be offered as an update for existing Windows 11 PCs. The only way to get version 26H1 officially will be to buy a new device with it preinstalled. Alternatively, if you want to run 26H1 on your existing Windows 11 PC, you can source the ISO files online and manually upgrade, though Microsoft says this is not a supported or recommended upgrade path.
The company is planning to merge everyone back onto the same platform release with version 27H2 next year. Those on 26H1 won't be upgraded to version 26H2 this fall, but are expected to get the version 27H2 update towards the end of 2027.
💬 Are you planning to buy a Snapdragon X2 device?
With Qualcomm's next-gen Snapdragon PC SoCs just around the corner, are you planning to upgrade to a Snapdragon X2-powered machine this year? It'll be the only way to officially run version 26H1, though there's no special reason to do so outside of support for ARMv9 SoC's. Let us know in the comments what you think!
