Windows “won’t get another major update until 2015”

Windows 8.1 might be out of the stable, but the next major OS refresh reportedly won’t happen until spring 2015.

It isn’t clear whether that’ll be Windows 8.2 or a complete refresh to Windows 9, but the next update will see a closer integration between Windows Phone and the desktop OS, according to Microsoft watcher Mary-Jo Foley.

Microsoft officially released Windows 8 in October 2012, with Windows 8.1 following a year later. A delay to the next refresh would be at odds with Steve Ballmer’s promise earlier this year to push to rapid release cycles.

But the company is in the middle of a huge reorganisation, and it’s possible Microsoft will delay the next version of Windows until it decides whether to streamline its operating systems.

Under the reorganisation, Windows Phone chief Terry Myerson now oversees Microsoft’s entire OS division. Myerson has hinted at ambitions to make the OS experience consistent across all Windows devices, and that Windows RT may merge with Windows Phone as the line between low-grade tablets and smartphones blurs.

The company is also set to release an update for Windows Phone 8 that should pave the way to larger Windows phones, further signalling that RT may be redundant.

It’s thought Microsoft will eventually offer a unified app store for Windows Phone and Windows. According to Foley’s sources, that’ll arrive with the spring 2015 update to Windows.