Microsoft's Qualcomm Exclusivity Deal for Windows on Arm Reportedly Ending Soon

Qualcomm reportedly has an exclusivity deal with Microsoft for Windows on Arm licenses. From a report: The pair launched Windows on Arm laptops in 2016, and so far we haven't seen any devices launch without a Qualcomm chip. XDA-Developers reports that Qualcomm has had an exclusivity deal on Windows on Arm, but that it's set to expire soon. The report comes days after MediaTek held its executive summit with members of the media last week, where it shared its ambitions to build its own chip for Windows on Arm PCs. If Microsoft's exclusivity deal is about to end with Qualcomm, this could open the door for many more vendors supporting Windows on Arm. Samsung, MediaTek, and even Apple's M1 chips could eventually support Windows on Arm.

Windows on a Mac...

[frank_adrian314159]

... is like hanging a turd on the side of a punchbowl.

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[antdude]

Darn. No future Windows Bootcamps in M1 Macs. Have to stick with Intel. :(

This is a dup

[iamnotx0r]

https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]

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[Anubis IV]

No, see, that one came out yesterday and was approved by a different editor, so it’s all good.

Good

[backslashdot]

Qualcomm kept releasing anemic processors instead of taking the PC market seriously. They just admitted the other day that they will need 3 years to catch up to Apple.

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[trparky]

And the bad part is if you consider that Apple won't be letting off on the gas, unless Qualcomm really takes things seriously, they're always going to be three years behind.

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[RatherBeAnonymous]

I'm not so optimistic about Apple. They have an established track record over the past ten years for releasing promising new computer technology and letting it founder. Yes, the M1 a groundbreaking CPU, but they released that a full year ago. Expectations are that the M2 will come out late next year. AMD and Intel release upgraded CPUs every year. If Apple wants to prove themselves, they need to work faster.

Apple is still hasn't released M1 Pro or Max iMacs, Mac Pros, and Minis. I'm willing to give th

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[Locutus]

Do you think it was spending lots of design cycles trying to add optimized X86 emulation which caused Qualcomm to stagnate on ARM performance and development? We all know the reason Microsoft wants a custom ARM design for Windows is so that existing X86 code could be run and then Microsoft would have apps for their Windows on ARM platform __AND__ it would be something only Microsoft could love and control.

Windows is ancient stuff and more and more we are seeing this old mammoth trying to exist a little lon

Wishful thinking (at best)

[IWantMoreSpamPlease]

But this would be a perfect time for MS to ditch all legacy stuff in their OS (like 32bit compatibility) and just start looking forward.
Keep the x86/x64 line for maximum compatibility, and the WinARM OS for going forward.

Yeah, delusional dreaming, I know.

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[Anonymous Coward]

this would be a perfect time for MS to ditch all legacy stuff in their OS (like 32bit compatibility)

That's brilliant. Ditch the only reason someone would want to use Windows: backwards compatibility with all their old apps.

If you really wanted to ditch legacy crap, ditch Windows.

M1 already supports Windows for ARM

[RatherBeAnonymous]

It might not be official, but it apparently works. It's via a Parallels Virtual machine and not bare metal, but it is Windows for ARM processors.
https://9to5mac.com/2021/05/03... [9to5mac.com]