Programming languages are designed for human comprehension. But before we look at the fruits of their labor, lets first understand why Windows apps don’t work on ARM. Qualcomm needed to build a chip that could handle Windows, while Microsoft needed to tweak Windows 10 to support ARM processors.

Arming ARM with Windows 10īringing Windows to ARM required a concerted effort from Qualcomm and Microsoft. There were clearly wrinkles in its performance, but the demo sent a clear message: Windows is coming to ARM.

When it first launched, only a handful of apps in the Windows Store were built natively for ARM the rest were forced through a translation layer. It embraced a “code once, deploy for all” philosophy that removed the complications in developing for multiple platforms. Later, Qualcomm worked with UL Benchmarks to show that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx could hold its own against Intel’s Core i5-8250U quad-core mobile processor, addressing the performance concern.ĭuring the development process, Microsoft also tried to entice developers to create apps for ARM by providing tools and an initiative called the Universal Windows Platform, a project that started during the Windows Phone days. Finally, in late 2017, Microsoft demonstrated Windows 10 running on Qualcomm’s then-flagship Snapdragon 835 chipset, materializing its vision for the first time to the public. The company has been preparing Windows 10 for ARM for years.

Microsoft’s devotion to ARM isn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. But in 2019, Microsoft has turned to ARM once more. Article contentįorgotten and neglected, Surface RT was the first and only time Microsoft used an ARM chip for any of its Surface devices. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

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