Continuing its efforts to aggressively push Windows 10 adoption, Microsoft announced that CPUs newer than Intel Skylake will be supported on the latest Windows version only.
"Going forward, as new silicon generations are introduced, they will require the latest Windows platform at that time for support," Microsoft confirmed. This enables us to focus on deep integration between Windows and the silicon, while maintaining maximum reliability and compatibility with previous generations of platform and silicon."
"For example, Windows 10 will be the only supported Windows platform on Intel’s upcoming "Kaby Lake" silicon, Qualcomm’s upcoming "8996" silicon, and AMD’s upcoming "Bristol Ridge" silicon."
Intel Skylake launched in August 2015; Kaby Lake will be released in the second half of 2017; Qualcomm's MSM8996 (aka Snapdragon 820) should hit the market in a couple of months and AMD's Bristol Ridge should launch around June or July 2016.
It is worth noting that Microsoft phased Windows 8 out of support earlier this week and asked users to switch to Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 to continue receiving security updates. Windows 8 was released in 2012 and Windows 8.1 was released in 2013 so we feel a bit betrayed that they are no longer receiving meaningful updates; specially that the official Windows Lifefcyle fact sheet states January 2018 as the end date for Windows 8 mainstream support.
