User interest in ARM and Windows PCs has been zero so far. Microsoft’s attempts since the launch of the Surface RT have been as numerous as they have failed, and the recent alliance with Qualcomm hasn’t improved the situation.

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon promised reverse the situation from 2024. He said this at the last results presentation conference with investors “expects to break the Windows PC segment with the Snapdragon platform in 2024, based on the significant number of successes that will occur by then”.

ARM and Windows PCs in Apple’s footsteps

Qualcomm is the world’s leading independent chip supplier for mobile devices. But PC is something else. Everyone is looking at Apple and the main goal is to achieve the results of the silicon program. Those from Cupertino have almost completed the hardware transition with great success for software integration and cost reduction due to custom chip design. And in handling the ARM architecture in computers that no one else has achieved.

Until now. Qualcomm promises what it can do for you: improve the performance of the chips, their compatibility with the most advanced connectivity standards and reduce their power consumption. It will also attract more OEMs to use its designs and make Snapdragon PCs an alternative to Intel/AMD PCs within a few years.

And the software? Microsoft must provide batteries. If the lack of performance of Windows-based ARM PCs that have appeared so far could be solved by better hardware in the future, as Qualcomm promises, the big problem for now is software.

And it has persisted since its inception. Supporting the vast Windows ecosystem and especially the Win32 applications that Microsoft would like to kill but are used by millions of users is a daunting task that Microsoft has not been able to solve. And to attract developers who had no interest in ARM and Windows computers before.

We appreciate Apple’s achievements, but it must be said that it is fair that Microsoft has it more complicated. It doesn’t have the soft-hard control of Apple, and the Windows ecosystem is huge and much more diverse than Mac. Qualcomm can deliver on promises to improve its PC chips, but much more is needed to appeal to mainstream consumers.