A few days ago the eManjaro's development team announced, through an announcement, the official launch of Manjaro 26.0, codenamed "Anh-Linh". This new major version arrives nine months after its predecessor and consolidates the transition to Wayland and the latest kernels, while maintaining the essence of being an Arch-based distribution accessible to all.
The system It is now available in three main official editions. (GNOME, KDE Plasma and Xfce) optimized for the x86_64 architecture and various ARM boards, while the community is actively working on variants for Budgie, Cinnamon, Deepin, LXQt and i3.
Main new features of Manjaro 26.0 «Anh-Linh»
Under the hood, Manjaro 26.0 is powered by the Linux Kernel 6.18, recently launched (in December 2025). This core It introduces critical improvements such as expanded architecture support, updates to BPF, PSP-based TCP encryption and a more efficient memory management with memory allocators faster. For users who prioritize long-term stability or who own older hardware, the The installer offers the option to use kernels 6.12 LTS and 6.6 LTS.In terms of graphics, it includes NVIDIA 590 controllers and the Mesa 25.3 graphics stack, ensuring optimal performance in both games and rendering tasks.
GNOME Edition 49: Performance and HDR
The GNOME edition of Manjaro adopts the version GNOME 49, configured by default to use Wayland. This update places a strong emphasis on visual quality, introducing support for high dynamic range (HDR) monitors and the P3 color space. Thanks to improvements in the Mutter window manager, it is now possible to render wallpapers with a color depth of 16 bits per channel, offering a much richer visual experience.
In terms of performance, the app store The software has been optimized to handle large Flatpak repositories. like Flathub, with significantly lower memory consumption and faster analysis speeds. Built-in remote desktop capabilities have also been expanded, and the interface of native applications like Calendar has been made more flexible, now allowing the sidebar to be hidden to better suit smaller screens or tiled window configurations.
KDE Plasma 6.5 Edition: Visual and functional polish
La The KDE Plasma variant is updated to the Plasma 6.5 series, accompanied by the latest versions of Frameworks and Gear. The visual appearance has been noticeably improved; the windows with the The Brisa theme now features uniform rounded corners on all four sides and an intelligent system has been introduced that automatically alternates between light and dark themes, including the wallpaper, based on the time of day.
In terms of functionality and security, The old Flatpak settings page has changed to a general manager of "Application Permissions," centralizing control over which programs can perform sensitive actions such as taking screenshots. Likewise, the remote desktop server (RDP) integrated has improved, It now supports clipboard sharing and allows direct authentication with system user credentials, eliminating the need for separate accounts. Additionally, the ability to hibernate the computer directly from the login screen has been added.
Xfce Edition 4.20: Classic but modern
For those who prefer the stability of X11 or have limited resources, the Xfce edition 4.20 remains the recommended optionThe file manager Thunar has received a major upgrade, allowing you to highlight specific files. with custom background and text colors, which facilitates visual identification in folders with many items.
The customization of the environment also advances with a more flexible panel. whose length is now defined in pixels instead of percentages. An option has been added to keep the panel on top of windows, allowing maximized applications to utilize the full screen space beneath the panel's transparency. All of this is complemented by a unified Control Center that consolidates system management, enabling detailed adjustments such as disabling window decorations in dialogs or preconfiguring multi-monitor behavior.
Download and availability
Manjaro 26.0 also integrates the latest versions of essential software such as Firefox 146 and LibreOffice 25.8.4, in addition to offering the first stable version of the COSMIC Desktop environment as an experimental option for enthusiasts. ISO images are now available for Download from the official website.