Confirmed: Windows 10 may cut off devices with older CPUs

No Windows 10 Fall Creators Update for you, Microsoft says—at least, not if you happen to be the unlucky owner of certain older Atom-based Windows devices, and other aging hardware. After stories arose of failed attempts to upgrade such hardware to the Creators Update, Microsoft says that any hardware device that falls out of the manufacturer’s support cycle may be ineligible for future

In the case of the four “Clover Trail” processors (part of the Cloverview platform) that have fallen into Intel's End of Interactive Support phase, they will be ineligible for the Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft confirmed. Instead, they’ll simply be offered the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, plus security updates through January 2023, the end of the original Windows 8.1 support period.

Microsoft doesn't seem to have excluded any new processors from the Fall Creators Update. The problem, however, is that Microsoft’s language opens up the possibility that any unsupported hardware device could be excluded from future Windows 10 updates, whenever they may be.
win10 minibanner

“Recognizing that a combination of hardware, driver and firmware support is required to have a good Windows 10 experience, we updated our support lifecycle policy to align with the hardware support period for a given device,” Microsoft said in a statement. “If a hardware partner stops supporting a given device or one of its key components and stops providing driver updates, firmware updates, or fixes, it may mean that device will not be able to properly run a future Windows 10 feature update.”

:story: PCWorld