If you haven’t regarded on the shopper PC market currently, possibly don’t — it isn’t a pretty picture. Of course that’s unhealthy information for firms like Intel, whose bread and butter is promoting the chips that nearly actually run the business. But Intel’s higher-ups see hope on the horizon, within the type of a “Windows refresh” coming in 2024. This seems to be greater than the yearly replace we’ve change into accustomed to…possibly much more.

The assertion comes from Intel’s Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner, talking to a monetary analyst at Citigroup for Citi’s Global Technology Conference final month. The transcript has been posted to Seeking Alpha, as noticed by PCGamer. Here’s the related little bit of the dialog, emphasis mine:

We really assume ’24 goes to be a fairly good 12 months for consumer, specifically, due to the Windows refresh. And we nonetheless assume that the put in base is fairly outdated and does require a refresh and we expect subsequent 12 months possibly the beginning of that, given the Windows catalyst. So we’re optimistic about how issues will play out starting in ’24.

David Zinsner

This is the one a part of the interview wherein Zinsner mentions Windows or Microsoft particularly. Putting on my tech pundit hat for a second, the language does appear very pointed. A typical function replace like the newest one normally doesn’t require — or certainly, encourage — the acquisition of recent laptops or desktops. That’s the form of push that comes with a brand new model of Windows.

“Windows 12” (title tentative, and unconfirmed) was rumored this spring and summer, with varied sources pointing to a 2024 launch. That definitely appears to dovetail with Intel’s hopes for extra chip gross sales subsequent 12 months. Windows 12 is alleged to be centered on a more modular software design, that includes a “stripped down” core with highly effective parts that may be added on. A concentrate on AI integration, as seen within the recent Copilot debut, looks as if a pure addition.

Long-time Windows customers will know {that a} potential Windows 12, like Windows 11 earlier than it, can be a departure from Microsoft’s said intention to make Windows 10 “the last version of Windows” and easily add new options to it endlessly. With Windows 11 probably set for under three years as the corporate’s flagship — and itself hardly a universally praised update — we appear to be again on the highway of periodic full-version bumps once more.