Windows 10’s big redesign is seemingly pinching bits of Windows 10X

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Windows 10 could be getting interface elements that were planned for use in Windows 10X.

You may recall the recent rumor that Microsoft has shelved development on Windows 10X – and it’ll likely ‘never arrive’ in its current form – with the new idea seemingly being to draft across bits from 10X to Windows 10 instead.

Of course, Windows 10 is undergoing Microsoft’s major ‘Sun Valley’ interface revamp for its second big update of 2021, and it’d seem that the elements borrowed from Windows 10X that could become part of that UI overhaul include a change to the Action Center. This was hidden in a new preview build, as spotted by Windows Latest.

Windows 10 Action Center tweak — (Image credit: Windows Latest / Microsoft)

The tech site shared a screenshot of the tweaked Action Center (see above) which has a new ‘gripper’ design – the small bar at the top of the quick settings panel – and a new way to swipe up from the edge of the screen to reveal that panel. It’s not a huge move, then, but it’s interesting in terms of seeing parts of Windows 10X being ported across; at least in early testing, anyway.

Technically this change isn’t actually in place for Windows 10 testers yet, but is tucked away behind an experimental flag in the latest preview build of the OS, with Windows Latest doing some detective work to find and enable the new interface elements.

Sunny outlook

We’ve caught plenty of the glimpses of other work on the interface for the big ‘Sun Valley’ update for Windows 10 which will land later this year, and it’s expected to witness some major developments across a number of fronts, with work on all core elements of the UI, including the Action Center which we’ve seen here, taskbar, Start menu, Settings app and more.

Broad themes for the redesign also seemingly include the use of rounded corners, which has been the subject of many leaks now – including a recent spotting in a blog post for developers which Windows Latest also highlighted – and floating menus, with a more modern look all-round (complete with refreshed desktop icons and animations).

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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).