Windows 10’s next big update (19H2) is likely to be released this week

Windows 10 will take another step forward with the second feature update of 2019 later this week, by all accounts, although it's set to be a minor upgrade compared to past efforts.

Windows 10 19H2 (aka version 1909) is shipping to insiders on the Release Preview ring, and has appeared on WSUS – the Windows Server Update Services server.

As Windows Latest observes, that latter development means this is likely the RTM build (final release candidate), and there’s also plenty of buzz online that the 19H2 update is ready to go.

The other thing to consider is that timing-wise, Microsoft has a big press event on Wednesday, October 2 – where lots of new Surface devices are expected – so it would seem likely that the update will be shown off there, and the rollout could kick off the day after (or Friday).

We don’t know this for sure, naturally, but everything seems to be lining up for this to be the case.

Update in a minor key

Of course, nobody is getting too excited about version 1909 of Windows 10, because, as mentioned, it doesn’t introduce any major new features – it’s more like a service pack of old, with various fixes and under-the-hood improvements.

That said, there are some interesting introductions in Windows 10 19H2 which might not be major features, but are certainly noteworthy.

That includes the promise of better battery life for laptops running certain processors, and a potential performance boost for CPUs that have multiple 'favored' cores (with any workload being better distributed amongst those particular cores, so any given task should run a bit faster).

Microsoft is also introducing the ability for third-party digital assistants like Amazon’s Alexa to be voice-activated direct from Windows 10’s lock screen.

While it’s likely that this upgrade will be called the October 2019 Update, it's possible that Microsoft will want to avoid that particular name given past history (and the calamity that was the October 2018 Update); it’s also possible that a different naming scheme could be called for given that this is a more minor update.