Microsoft says it has two big Windows 10 updates planned for 2017

Microsoft only started rolling out Windows 10's Anniversary Update this week, but it's already discussing future updates for the operating system. A new blog post detailing update changes for IT professionals sheds some light on Microsoft's plans for Windows 10. "This will be our last feature update for 2016, with two additional feature updates expected in 2017," says Microsoft's Nathan Mercer.

Understandably, Microsoft isn't detailing exactly what features are coming just yet, but the next big feature update to Windows 10 is rumored to release some time early next year before spring. Codenamed "Redstone 2," the Windows 10 update may coincide with hardware updates to Microsoft's Surface Pro and Surface Book devices. Microsoft is already working on Redstone 2, with internal builds out for testing.

Redstone 2 should be the more significant update out of the two, and the second "Redstone 3" update will arrive later next year. Microsoft originally released Windows 10 last July under the "Threshold 1" codename, and issued its first big update in November (codenamed Threshold 2). This week's Anniversary Update (codenamed Redstone 1) marks the second big update to Windows 10 since its introduction last year, and it appears Microsoft looks set to settle on two big updates per year for Windows 10 moving forward.