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x64 emulation for Windows on ARM

September 30, 2020.

Surface Pro X.

Surface Pro X. © Microsoft.

Microsoft is officially revealing it’s working on x64 app emulation support for Windows on ARM. Currently, Windows on ARM devices like the Surface Pro X can only run native 32- and 64-bit ARM apps, alongside 32-bit x86 emulation apps. The vast majority of desktop applications, including Adobe’s Creative Suite, have moved to 64-bit and many have stopped supporting their 32-bit variants. The new x64 emulation support will start rolling out to Windows Insider testers in November. It is not known when it will be widely distributed, but it will probably be in 2021, along with the Spring update (21H1). Microsoft also announced that a new version of Visual Studio Code for Windows 10 on ARM was coming, and that Edge would soon be improved to be faster on this platform.

The Verge, Tom Warren, “Windows on ARM is about to get lots of apps thanks to new x64 emulation.”