2024 was a big year for Windows on Arm

I can’t believe I use an Arm-powered Windows laptop every day. After more than a decade of trying to make Windows on Arm a reality, Microsoft and Qualcomm finally hit it off this year with PC Copilot Plus. These new laptops have excellent battery life and great performance – and the app compatibility issues that plagued Windows on Arm are mostly a thing of the past (as long as you’re not a gamer). Microsoft wanted 2024 to be “the year of the AI ​​PC”, but I think it was very much the year of Windows on Arm. If 2024 was anything to go by, 2025 will be even bigger for Windows on Arm.

Microsoft set the stage for the 2024 Windows on Arm announcement in January at CES with promises of PC AI and the first major change to Windows keyboards in 30 years. Laptop manufacturers began to put a Keyboard Copilot on keyboards earlier this year, it provides quick access to Microsoft’s AI assistant. While the Copilot experience on Windows has passed many confusing revisionsit’s always a key I press accidentally and then get frustrated when a Copilot window appears.

After the key Copilot was met with a warm welcomeMicrosoft reignited the Mac vs PC war a few months later. Inside Microsoft, confidence had grown gradually in the early months of 2024 that it could finally beat Apple’s MacBook Air after leaving it for years. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella unveiled the company’s new Copilot Plus PC devices at a special event in May, setting the stage for a summer of Windows on Arm laptops from all major OEMs.

The key to the revival of Windows on Arm this year was Snapdragon X Elite processors from Qualcommwhich were announced in April. They delivered the kind of performance and energy efficiency only available before with Apple’s MacBooks and challenged Intel and AMD to do better in the x86 space. After much debate The benchmarks of Microsoft MacBook Air-beatenthe reviews rolled in and it showed that Windows on Arm was indeed capable of meeting and beating Apple’s MacBook Air. Qualcomm even hired the “I’m a Mac” guy. promote Windows on Arm PCsshowing how confident it was in challenging Apple’s laptop dominance.

Microsoft and Qualcomm have also worked closely with developers make key applications compatibleand now it is very rare to encounter an app compatibility problem that cannot be solved by a native Arm64 version or Microsoft’s improved emulator. Even Google, which previously avoided Windows Phone, created it Arm64 versions of Chrome and Google Drive to support Microsoft’s efforts. With developers continuously providing native versions of their apps, it makes it much easier to switch to a Windows on Arm laptop. The one big exception is gaming, where x86 still reigns supreme for compatibility and performance.

Intel didn’t stand still while all this Windows on Arm hype was happening, and neither did AMD. Intel shot with Lunar Lake at IFA in September, it offers impressive performance and improved battery life. AMD’s latest Ryzen AI chips are also in direct competition with Qualcomm, and AMD and Intel have the key advantage of gaming compatibility that Windows on Arm is definitely not ready in order.

While we’re still waiting for an M4-powered MacBook Air, Apple refreshed its cheapest MacBooks in October with a surprise upgrade to 16 GB of RAM. Apple likely claims it’s related to Apple Intelligence, but the unusual change came months after the launch of Copilot Plus PCs, with a minimum of 16GB of RAM at price points that challenge the MacBook Air. Apple managed to squeeze its new M4 chip into the MacBook Pro recentlyhowever, showing that Qualcomm has some ground to make up in 2025.

Apple and Microsoft have both focused on AI-powered features for laptops this year, and the end results have been underwhelming on both sides. While much of the initial Copilot Plus PC buzz was around Windows on Arm, Microsoft also rolled out some Windows AI features to these devices in June.

The flagship feature would have to be Recall, a feature that snapshots pretty much everything you do on a laptop and then lets you recall moments or scroll through a timeline of how you’ve used your PC. But why Recall was met privacy and security issuesundermining the entire marketing effort for Microsoft’s PC Copilot Plus, Microsoft was forced to delay the recall several times to improve their security. In fact, he only has a short time appeared in trial versions of Windows.

However, I don’t think Microsoft’s setbacks with Recall will mean the company is slowing down with its Windows AI efforts. Windows chief Pavan Davuluri told me recently that the very The future of Windows is cloud and AIso expect a lot more of this in 2025.

Next year will also be a fascinating battle between x86 and Windows on Arm. AMD and Intel teamed up to fend off Arm-based chips from Qualcomm, and Intel faced a turbulent period afterward. fire their CEOin front desktop chip problemsand a wave of layoffs earlier this year.

It’s hard not to see 2025 as the year that Windows on Arm continues to eat into the laptop space. A Dell leak revealed that Qualcomm was preparing new chips for 2025, and the chip maker was also deployed. cheaper chips based on Arm to lower laptop prices. I expected that we will see more of those at CES in January, alongside the usual amount of laptops that set the stage for the year.

The Dell leak also hinted at Nvidia’s next-gen GPU plans, which now appear ready for a CES announcement. Leaks suggest that we will see RTX 50-series desktop GPUs as well as laptop variants, with OEMs rumored to be preparing new models to see at CES. Given the situation of Windows on Arm gaming, a new generation of GPUs from Nvidia could help generate fresh excitement around x86 laptops throughout 2025.

Nvidia could also be planning to help the Windows on Arm effort. The chip maker has long noise to be planned to launch Arm PC chips as soon as 2025. Nvidia’s expertise in AI chips and games could certainly shake up the Windows laptop world and make Windows on Arm even more attractive.

Whatever happens to laptops in 2025, you can bet there will be fierce competition between Intel, AMD and Qualcomm. That should make for an exciting year in the world of Windows laptops.