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Comment by throwaway613834 | Hacker News Reader

Does anyone know if/when Windows 10's x86-on-ARM thing might come out for phone(s)? I don't really care for the emulation on laptops but I need to upgrade my phone and this is a factor.

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The rumor mill is full of stories of future Windows devices that are in the form factor of a phone and have cellular networking. Just don't call them "phones." Just today, Windows Central is claiming we should expect to see the Courier in 2018 [1].

Basically a Windows 10 phone-sized full computer that has docking features that make it conceivably the singular computing device in your life that covers all mobile and desktop contexts.

[1] https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-bring-back-courier-...

Combined with the Continuum thing for Windows Phone (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/Continuum) this would be incredible. You could use your phone as a desktop replacement.

Unfortunately, it seems like Microsoft has given up on Windows Phone already.

I thought it was supposed to be for phones. That's what I read last year: "I'm hearing this Cobalt [x86-on-ARM] technology is aimed at phone and possibly tablet/desktop devices." [1] I'm confused when it became a laptop thing at all.

[1] http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsofts-x86-on-arm64-emulati...

Microsoft announced they were going to make vanilla Windows 10 run on Snapdragon.

Yeah but does that imply phones? Or is it about Snapdragon tablets or something?

It's always been something of a laptop thing? Microsoft since Windows 8 has made it somewhat clear they think Windows needs a strong presence on ARM tablets to A) avoid Intel hegemony, B) remain competitive with the iPad in that space. "It doesn't run any of my apps," was perhaps the biggest complaint about Windows 8 ARM tablets, so it makes sense that x86-on-ARM was a big strategy push before the next attempt.

Beyond that, rumor has it that Microsoft hopes selling tablets/laptops with ARM will open the Windows ARM space enough in the meantime while the Windows team is finishing the next version of key Windows shell components (nicknamed the "Composable Shell" or CShell), which would be make the Continuum experience for say Phones stronger because instead of switching entirely different shell applications (start menu, taskbar, et al) between form factors, the same applications responsively adapt themselves.

I'm confused, I just quoted an article from 2016 saying it was about phones and possibly tablets/desktops, and you say it's always been a laptop thing? Anything you can quote from 2016 to that effect?

The Verge's article from 2016 says "laptops are expected to be the first devices", and brings up Windows RT as the predecessor, just as I mentioned it:

https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/7/13866936/microsoft-window...

Microsoft gave up on Windows RT to go back to the drawing board and build Windows on ARM. It's the same with phones: they gave up on Windows Phone so that they can have a "Surface Phone" do-over in the future. This allows them to introduce hot "new" products rather than updated versions of failed products. There are many examples of Microsoft doing this.

Possibly, but they have not given up on Windows. They came out with Linux for Windows. I can see them coming out with something like Windows for Android - a compatibility layer allowing e.g. Office for Windows ARM to run on Android phones.

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