Windows on ARM: we know why Qualcomm has no competition

You cannot install Windows on M1 Macs and you cannot find Windows PCs with a MediaTek SoC. We now know why.

News sometimes has a sense of timing. While we were explaining a few days ago that Qualcomm’s monopoly on Windows 11 was problematic, faced with the rise of much more competitive Apple, the hegemony of the giant is in the news today.

Among the problems of Windows in the ARM version, there is the fact that Microsoft considers it an accessory version on the one hand, but also and above all the lack of competition in the PC SoC market. The site XDA-Developers reveals the reasons.

An exclusive contract between Qualcomm and Microsoft

On the sidelines of a teasing of the arrival of MediaTek on the SoC market for Windows, XDA was able to learn that Qualcomm had an exclusive contract with Microsoft. It was therefore impossible for a competitor to offer a SoC for Windows: only Qualcomm could offer one. This again shows that the Microsoft SQ1 and SQ2 chips are actually just new names for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips, with little or no customization from Microsoft to justify this other brand.

If this contract may be shocking today when we see the advance taken by Apple and the innovations offered by the latest chips from MediaTek, we must understand that it may have been necessary for Microsoft. It should be understood that before the presentation of the project in 2016, Microsoft had to find a working partner to ensure that Windows 10 on ARM would be accompanied by compatible laptops and tablets.

Expiration is approaching

What questions us now is the end of the contract. Fortunately, its expiration date is approaching, which should allow Qualcomm’s competitors to offer their SoCs. MediaTek should be the first to position itself in this market, but we can imagine other players like Samsung (Exynos) launching themselves, and why not Nvidia. We know that the next Samsung Exynos chip should include an AMD Radeon graphics chip. Maybe a faster version would be interesting for PCs. Apple illustrated on the Macbook Pro by relying mainly on graphics power for its M1 Pro and M1 Max chips.

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As XDA indicates, we can also assume that the inability to install Windows 11 on Apple MacBooks would be one of the consequences of this exclusive contract. In the future, it may be possible to take advantage of the full power of Apple chips with Windows with support from Microsoft.

We can’t wait for the expiration of this exclusive contract. More competition in the Windows chipset market will improve the performance of all PCs and push Qualcomm, but also Intel and AMD, to surpass themselves.

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