Microsoft Is Fixing The ‘App Problem’ For Windows 10 On ARM

Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer (Windows + Devices), Panos Panay, announced in a blog post that 64-bit (x64) app support would come to Windows 10 on ARM in November under the Windows Insider Program.

“We are excited about the momentum we are seeing from app partners embracing Windows 10 on ARM, taking advantage of the power and performance benefits of Qualcomm Snapdragon processors,” Panos said.

“We will also expand support for running x64 apps, with x64 emulation starting to roll out to the Windows Insider Program in November.”

Windows 10 on ARM currently supports native ARM64 apps, but it’s only limited to 32-bit x86 app support enabled via an emulator. The upcoming support for apps leveraging the x64 architecture will also be enabled via an emulator.

However, past reports have suggested that Microsoft has had a hard time pushing the 64-bit app’s performance to satisfactory levels.

The news about an x64 emulator in the making has been floating since last year, and more evidence was spotted earlier in May. So, in a way, the emulator doesn’t come as a surprise.

Here, the lack of x64 app support puts Windows 10 ARM at a big disadvantage as many resource-hungry Windows 10 apps now only come in a 64-bit version such as Adobe Premiere Pro and other Creative Cloud apps, to name a few.

Windows 10 on ARM is an operating system optimized to work with ARM-powered processors. As of now, Microsoft is in a partnership with Qualcomm, which markets ARM-based chips under the Snapdragon brand name. In other words, the 64-bit app support will arrive for Snapdragon PCs.

In addition to this, Redmond is also launching a version of Microsoft Teams optimized for Windows 10 ARM. In an attempt to boost app compatibility, it has already announced the App Assure program for Snapdragon PCs.