Next Generation Snapdragon Processors will Officially Support Windows 10 in 2017

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At the Microsoft Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) event earlier this week, it was announced that Microsoft and Qualcomm have been working together on a new project. The goal of this partnership is to get Windows 10 running on “premium-tier” Snapdragon chips from Qualcomm.

Microsoft’s Terry Myerson (EVP, Windows and Devices Group) even pulled out a thin, fan-less laptop prototype to demo the progress the two companies have made.

We’re told that Windows 10 running on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors will offer the exact same applications and features that people expect from the company’s latest operating system. Devices that are using this hardware will be running Universal Windows Platform (UWP) and Win32 apps through emulation. Microsoft and Qualcomm are hoping this process will inspire OEMs to build new devices and offer more choices to the consumer.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon SoCs have a number of features baked into them that can expand the current feature list of portable and desktop hardware. The examples they gave were “Gigabit LTE connectivity, advanced multimedia support, machine learning and superior hardware security features.” With all of this being possible in devices that do not need to be cooled off by fans. They’re hoping to see some new tablets, notebooks, laptops and even miniature PCs using this combination of hardware and software.

The demo Myerson showed on stage had Windows 10 running on the Qualcomm-powered laptop. On the screen, we can see applications like Microsoft’s new web browser, Edge, and Adobe Photoshop running on it without any lag or jitters (you can watch a clip of this down below). The two companies also announced that commercial devices using this hardware and software are currently scheduled to be available to the public during the second half of 2017.

Other than saying “next generation Qualcomm Snapdragon processors”, they didn’t specify which Snapdragon processors would be capable of running Windows 10 in this way.