14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s announcement that it brings the full version of Windows 10 on ARM processors generated excitement in the Windows Phone community, especially because the company demoed it running the desktop version of Photoshop on an existing Snapdragon 820 processor.
Since the Snapdragon 820 is already available on two high-end Windows 10 Mobile devices on the market, namely the HP Elite X3 and the Alcatel IDOL 4S, it was natural for owners of these phones to at least hope that once full Windows 10 starts being supported on ARM, their devices would get this feature too.
The Surface Phone
But it turns out that this isn’t the case, and even though Microsoft used in its demo the Snapdragon 820, the public implementation would be available starting with Snapdragon 835.
“Today’s announcement is about support for the Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC. Customers will start to see Windows 10 ARM devices on the market next year, and we expect the first Windows 10 ARM PCs to ship with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835. We have nothing further to share at this time,” a company spokesperson was quoted as saying.
This means that only devices coming at least with a Snapdragon 835 processor should be able to run desktop apps, and it’s believed that Microsoft’s Surface Phone would be one of the first to offer this feature.
Rumor has it that the Surface Phone could launch in the second half of the next year, possibly in the fall, but there’s also a good chance to see other manufacturers, including HP, launching devices with Snapdragon 835 processors and full Windows 10.
HP is already working on another Windows phone that could be unveiled in the first months of 2017, but this one seems to rather be a mid-range device and not a flagship that would pioneer the debut of Windows 10 on mobile.
In the meantime, the Snapdragon 835 is likely to be used by Samsung on its upcoming S8 flagships due in February at MWC, but it’ll obviously run Android.