Windows 10 on ARM to Launch with 3 PCs on 14 Carriers
- Paul Thurrott
- Feb 21, 2018
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59
Qualcomm announced today that the three Windows 10 on ARM PCs that will launch this Spring will be supported by 14 wireless carriers from around the globe.
“Our collaboration together with Microsoft has continued to build momentum for the Always Connected PC category,” Qualcomm vice president Don McGuire said in a prepared statement. “With the growing list of commitments from leading mobile operators worldwide, Snapdragon-powered Always Connected PCs are engineered to offer consumers a compelling and powerful mobile computing experience, with instant-on capability, always-on connectivity and ‘beyond all-day’ battery life in innovative, thin and light designs.”
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We’ve known for some time that only three Qualcomm-based Windows 10 PCs would ship this Spring. But the list of wireless carriers has grown a lot, from the originally-announced five, which were China Telecom, TIM (Italy), EE (U.K.), and Sprint and Verizon (U.S.). Now, the following carriers are on-board as well:
- Telstra (Australia)
- CMCC (China Mobile Communications Corporation) (China)
- Transatel (France)
- Deutsche Telekom (Germany)
- Cubic (Ireland)
- Telefónica (Spain)
- Swisscom (Switzerland)
- T-Mobile (U.S.)
- AT&T (U.S.)
So, yes, all four of the major U.S. carriers are supporting Qualcomm-based Always Connected PCs.
“The Always Connected PC combines the connectivity and the simplicity of the smartphone with the power and creative capability of the Windows 10 PC, transforming how we work and play,” Microsoft corporate vice president Matt Barlow adds. “In collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies and with the support of these mobile operators, consumers will be able to enjoy up to gigabit 4G/LTE connectivity and stay connected to the things that are most important to them.”
Expect more Always Connected PC news from Mobile World Congress this coming week. Including, I assume, from Intel, which is also supporting this initiative.
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Conversation 59 comments
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skane2600
<p>It's worth remembering that in early December it was reported that the first Windows on ARM PCs would be released "early next year". Where are they?</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#247465"><em>In reply to Chris_Kez:</em></a></blockquote><p>From the Qualcomm's site: "They were joined by Jerry Shen, chief executive officer of Asus, who announced the first Windows on Snapdragon device: the 2-in-1 convertible ASUS NovaGo, expected to be available early next year." No mention of Spring.</p><p><br></p><p>www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2017/12/05/qualcomm-launches-technology-innovation-advancements-always-connected-pc</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#247526"><em>In reply to Chris_Kez:</em></a></blockquote><p>There seems to be some inconsistencies in release estimates although "Spring 2018" isn't really any more specific than "Early 2018" IMO.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#247638"><em>In reply to SvenJ:</em></a></blockquote><p>I doubt that computer makers will feel restricted to the technical definition of Spring. On the other hand it's technically a 3 month interval which is pretty non-specific. I doubt many people would consider June to be early in the year. I'll bet a more common expectation would be that "early" would imply January through March at the most.</p>
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skane2600
<p> Should be “The Always Connected PC combines the connectivity and the data charges of the smartphone with a fraction of the power of the Windows 10 PC"</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#247535"><em>In reply to SocialDanny123:</em></a></blockquote><p>Having to run X86 in emulation qualifies as "a fraction of the power". But, yeah, X64 is missing too.</p>
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sprewell
<blockquote><a href="#247440"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></blockquote><p>You would be surprised. I can now see why MS chose to jump on board ARM again with the Snapdragon 835, as I just picked up a new smartphone powered by the 835 and this thing is a beast. I tried building a C++ codebase with clang on the smartphone and it consistently built in 1 min. 45 sec., as opposed to around 6 mins. for the Snapdragon 820 I tried on a tablet. That's largely because it builds in parallel, so the octa-core 835 is going to fly by the quad-core 820, but if you want to run heavier loads, ARM chips are probably getting comparable to core i5s these days, while eating a _lot less_ battery. Oh, my smartphone has 6 GBs RAM, so that's not a concern either.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#247710"><em>In reply to sprewell:</em></a></blockquote><p>I'm not sure how experiments to compare different ARM chips is relevant to ARM vs Intel performance. In any case the "fraction of the power" I was referring to was the inability to run some full Windows code and the necessity of emulating the rest. No, I haven't forgotten about UWP, I just don't consider it important to most users.</p>
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sprewell
<blockquote><a href="#247782"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></blockquote><p>It's relevant because the 820 was already a very popular, powerful chip that was in a ton of 2016 smartphones, yet the 835 flies by it. I agree that doesn't show its strength compared to x86 chips but there are other benchmarks that show that. I haven't used any x86 devices in years, but I plan to borrow one from a friend and try compiling this codebase to compare. I'll let you know what I find.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#247628"><em>In reply to SvenJ:</em></a></blockquote><p>Not everybody spends that much and keep in mind it's largely redudant functionality – your phone payment isn't going away.</p>
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