Microsoft announced a version of Windows on ARM chips in 2017 to great fanfare, promising a significant improvement in battery life without sacrificing good performance.
Many manufacturers should start making Windows products on ARM, and while a number of devices have been released in recent years, Windows on ARM didn’t take off.
For Qualcomm, the reason for the poor success of these devices is simple: Windows laptops on ARM are very expensive. There’s little point in investing in such a platform at this price point when Intel’s alternatives are similarly priced.
Qualcomm Senior Director Miguel Nunes recently stated in an interview what lThe first Windows devices on ARM had “Inadequate prices”, so customers were reluctant to buy them.
Microsoft itself has tried to solve this problem with more affordable Surface models, but other manufacturers must follow in their footsteps and release Windows products on cheaper ARMs.
Whether Windows on ARM will eventually become a hit remains to be seen, but at the moment, the price of available devices is apparently the main obstacle.