Microsoft is working on x86-64 App Emulation for Windows-based ARM systems

People that bought or are planning to buy the Microsoft Surface Pro X have to consider the fact that the only apps that it will run are ARM, ARM64, and emulated x86 apps. Up until now, running x64 apps such as Adobe Premiere Pro or Photoshop Elements on a Surface Pro X was impossible, but this is about to change.

According to Neowin, Microsoft is currently working on x64 app emulation for Windows running on ARM systems. Although there's still no definite release date, it's expected that the x64 app emulation will come to Windows 10 in the first half of 2021. Insiders will have access to the beta feature sooner, in 2020.

Back in 2016, Microsoft had stated that 64-bit emulation would never happen. When Neowin tried to reach out to Microsoft regarding this story, the company representative stated that there was “nothing to share at this time”.

Emulating an x64 app has never been deemed impossible, however, it was considered something difficult to do and maybe not worth investing into since 32bit apps are faster, as they use WOW64, the same that is used by 64bit Windows versions to run 32bit apps. To emulate x64 Microsoft will probably need to create something new.

Another issue is what will be the default for installing apps. Usually, if a system supports 64bit apps, this is what gets installed. That is because x64 runs as well or better than x86 ones, but this is the opposite of what happens on ARM systems right now.

On a different note, good things are coming, if the 64bit emulation is implemented. Consumers won't need to worry if the application will run or not in their ARM systems, because all Windows apps will be supported on these devices.

KitGuru says: Do you want 64bit emulation on Windows ARM systems?

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