History of an announced development. One of the most criticized aspects of Microsoft is the virtual lack of a solid strategy for the mobile space. Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 10 Mobile are essentially digital orphans by the company's decision, and this is because Redmond's goal is to turn Windows 10 into a unique experience that adapts to any format. To achieve this, it needs two fundamental resources: ARM support and x86 emulation... and both have been confirmed.
Windows 10 has managed to keep its hardware requirements relatively low, which in turn allows for very affordable computers with acceptable performance, especially if their specifications include a solid-state drive. However, Windows 10 has other goals that it cannot reach using traditional hardware, and I mean the x86 architecture. Microsoft has crossed swords with ARM technology on more than one occasion. Its results were quite poor, and Windows RT exposed almost all the limitations of the software. Talking about ARM support is always interesting, but without a mechanism that enables the execution of x86 applications, the rich Windows ecosystem is drastically reduced. Well... that is about to change.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/A_GlGglbu1UBoth Microsoft and Qualcomm have announced that next year we will see a complete edition of Windows 10 with ARM support and x86 emulation. And when they say complete, they are not exaggerating. Unlike what happened with Windows RT, this build of Windows 10 was not cut down and has all the high-level features that users expect, including the ability to join a domain. The demo we saw in the video is based on a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC with 4 GB of RAM, though all eyes are on the upcoming octa-core Snapdragon 835, which will debut in the first months of 2017. The Snapdragon 820 has no major issues when it comes to providing touch support or playing video, but what is truly surprising is the execution of the latest version of Photoshop, which, by the way, was not modified in any way.
Qualcomm is barely the first manufacturer to confirm that Windows 10 x86 emulation will work on its SoCs, and it is expected that the rest of the competitors will not take long to join. Many users excited about this news decided to revive the theory that the mythical Surface Phone is near, but personally I do not think that is the case, at least in the short term. Windows 10 with ARM support and x86 emulation presents a much stronger case on the ground of ultraportable computers. Perhaps the biggest threat is to Chromebooks, which continue to gain popularity, however, everything will depend on how good the x86 emulation is at the end of the day.
