Latest build includes evidence of a new feature
Windows 10 build 16212, which Microsoft rolled out by mistake earlier this week, includes evidence that a new keyboard is coming to PCs running the operating system.
Twitter user @h0x0d discovered that build 16212 includes a ComposableShell TextInput component that’s based on SwiftKey, which basically means that the new keyboard coming on Windows 10 PCs will be very similar to the one available on Windows phones and will support swipe input.
Windows phones feature the super-advanced WordFlow keyboard, and it looks like Microsoft is working to make it available on PCs with updates powered by the SwiftKey engine. This makes perfect sense, especially because Microsoft is yet to include SwiftKey into its own products following the acquisition of the company last year.
SwiftKey, which is now a Microsoft asset, is one of the best third-party keyboards for Android and iOS, and although there are no plans to bring the app on Windows phones, it looks like Microsoft is looking into way to use its features for improving its keyboard on Windows.
Many see this new keyboard coming to Windows 10 PCs as a way to pave the road for Microsoft’s future mobile push, which could be based on Windows 10 on ARM, but information in this regard is still very limited, with Microsoft using its partnership with Qualcomm for PCs exclusively until now.
The ones to benefit the most from the new keyboard on Windows 10 will be tablet users, especially because typing with a swipe input would be substantially improved on a touch-capable display.
Most likely, the new keyboard will show up in the coming builds released to insiders, while users in the production ring are more likely to get it in the Fall Creators Update in September. Until then, the keyboard should receive new features gradually, as work on this feature seems to have already started.
