Canonical has laid out the plans for Ubuntu 26.10 “Stonking Stingray”, due out later this year on October 15th, 2026, so we know exactly what to expect from the upcoming Ubuntu release.

We already knew that Ubuntu 26.10 would ship with the latest GNOME and Linux kernel; in this case, Canonical confirmed that the Stonking Stingray features the upcoming GNOME 51 desktop environment by default and the Linux 7.2 kernel series, as I predicted a few months ago.

But there are many other things to be excited for Ubuntu 26.10, which promises a complete desktop experience on RVA23-compliant hardware, improved driver management, and improved multimedia support with the GStreamer 1.30 multimedia framework and new Rust-based plugins.

Since Ubuntu 26.10 is an interim release, it’s also a testbed for Canonical to test new features that will be part of the next Ubuntu LTS series, Ubuntu 28.04 LTS. Therefore, Ubuntu 26.10 users will be able to try a new, simplified installation experience and a new onboarding experience for newcomers to help them personalize and completely set up their new Ubuntu system via a dedicated first-boot experience.
“We are completing the design of a simplified installation experience that dramatically reduces complexity during partitioning and storage configuration. The new design focuses on safe defaults, guided workflows, and progressive disclosure of advanced functionality,” said Canonical. “These projects are targeted toward Ubuntu 28.04 LTS, but the design decisions that shape them are happening now.”

Among other things to expect from Ubuntu 26.10 this October, there’s the first AI tools integration for on-device speech-to-text voice interaction as a native desktop input method, and a highly-anticipated package-agnostic App Center, finally allowing users to manage all their packages in every format (DEB, Snap, Flatpak).
“Applications will be presented consistently regardless of packaging technology, with unified search, ratings, categories, and metadata,” said Jean Baptiste Lallement, member of the Canonical Desktop Team. “Users who care about packaging formats will still be able to choose. Everyone else should simply be able to find and install software without needing to understand the differences between packaging systems.”

On top of all that, Ubuntu 26.10 will also see accessibility improvements to the Flutter ecosystem, the transition from dbus-daemon to dbus-broker, MS password and MFA authentication support, Ubuntu Certified hardware information integration within GNOME Settings, and support for disabling local password authentication for remotely managed accounts.

Under the hood, Canonical is completing the transition from dbus-daemon to dbus-broker to improve the reliability, security, maintainability, and performance of the desktop stack, and increasing automated test coverage across the authd stack to improve reliability and confidence in future releases.

More details about Canonical’s plans for Ubuntu 26.10 “Stonking Stingray” are available here. As mentioned before, the final release of Ubuntu 26.10 is expected on October 15th, 2026. Until then, the beta version will be available for public testing on September 24th, 2026.