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Google, Microsoft, Qualcomm Working on Chrome for Windows 10 on ARM: Report

Google, Microsoft, Qualcomm Working on Chrome for Windows 10 on ARM: Report

By Tasneem Akolawala | Updated: 21 November 2018 12:32 IST

Samsung and Lenovo recently launched Windows 10 on ARM laptops

Highlights

Microsoft unveiled Visual Studio 15.9 for development of 64-bit ARM apps
Google is also working on Chrome port for Windows 10 on ARM
Microsoft seems to be helping in development of this Chrome port

Samsung and Lenovo both have unveiled Snapdragon 850 laptops recently, and in order to make these Qualcomm Snapdragon laptops compatible with all Windows apps, Microsoft announced Visual Studio 15.9 last week. This offers developers an SDK and tools for creating 64-bit ARM (ARM64) apps. The Microsoft Store also began accepting submissions for apps built for the ARM64 architecture. Now, it is reported that Google is working with Microsoft and Qualcomm on Chrome for Windows 10 on ARM, for making these laptops not reliant on Microsoft Edge only.

Google is working on a Windows 10 on ARM port of Google Chrome, and Microsoft as well Qulacomm are said to be contributing to the development of this. 9to5Google reports that a couple dozen commits have been found in Chromium's Gerrit source code management regarding the development of Chrome for Windows 10 on ARM. Microsoft's contribution is a wise move, as many apps rely upon Google Chrome to function efficiently. However, this reportedly doesn't mean that Chrome will arrive on the Microsoft Store, given the store's restrictions for browser engines.

Using Visual Studio 15.9, developers can recompile apps - both UWP and C++ Win32 - as 64-bit ARM apps to run natively on Windows 10 on ARM devices, Microsoft said. Running natively will allow apps to perform better than the emulation method that uses the x86 emulation layer.

As mentioned, Samsung and Lenovo have launched new second-gen Windows 10 on ARM devices powered by the Snapdragon 850 processor and offering beyond-all-day battery. With Visual Studio 15.9, and the fact that a Chrome port is incoming, steady improvement in performance and app compatibility issues are being addressed, and Microsoft, Google, and Qualcomm all seem to think that Windows on ARM holds some potential.

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