Microsoft is making a major change to BitLocker encryption with new PCs in 2026 — here’s what you need to know

Microsoft has announced big changes that are coming to BitLocker encryption on Windows 11 in 2026. The company has unveiled a new ‘hardware accelerated BitLocker’ that will be available on new devices starting next year, which encrypts data faster using dedicated hardware instead of the CPU.

“Hardware-accelerated BitLocker brings faster and more secure disk encryption to Windows by leveraging modern SoC and CPUs,” Microsoft explains. “Cryptographic operations are now offloaded from the main processor to…