Microsoft continues to put Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chips at center stage of its reinvigorated Windows on ARM (WoA) push, however, it’s the company’s new transition layer that will be the readily tested linchpin to pulling off this much hyped ARM-powered future.
On Monday, Microsoft ran through a plethora of capabilities Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X Elite chip will help empower for Windows devices that include enhanced video and audio processing, live translations, massive data load processing and more, thanks to dedicated neural processing units attached to the new silicon.
However, Microsoft seemingly glossed over an equally, if not arguably, more important aspect to avoiding similarly failed WoA projects, and that’s its new translation layer that’s called PRISM.
According to Microsoft, its Prism translation layer will be the company’s Rosetta 2 moment. Rosetta 2 represents the software bridge Apple was able to build that helped users of Intel-based applications move over to new M-Series powered Macs without being made aware of the massive architectural change under the hood.
Beyond not possessing the hardware to make its WoA ambitions a reality in past attempts, Microsoft suffered more failings on the software side in being able to transition its users over to a different architecture as its translation layer efforts resulted in several highly trafficked x86 apps simply not working.
Apps such as Chrome, Slack and the Adobe Creative suite were some of the experiences that ran into runtime errors or couldn’t be launched at all, and there were no work arounds for Windows users who purchased earlier WoA devices who needed access to them for their workflows.
However, it looks like Microsoft may have resolved issues with the x86 to ARM translation roadblock with Prism, as the company is stating that with the Windows 11 24H2 update WoA users should see nominal improvements of up to twenty percent to translated app performance as well as support.
When comparing hardware, Microsoft states that Prism will deliver twice the performance of its current WoA offerings, specifically calling out its own Surface Pro 9 with 5G computer released last year.
Microsoft didn’t get into the weeds on what specific improvements were made during the development of Prism, but it did mention that the kernel of Windows 11 was rewritten for this new ARM transition. Previous WoA attempts were practically just tweaks to existing x86 API calls through VM protocols that ultimately taxed the battery and CPU when running.
Apple accomplished its transition layer magic by architecting memory models divided by week and strong allocations based on work done by former Apple employee Gerard Williams who took his talents to Nuvia in 2019 as CEO, and in the end became a Qualcomm employee in 2021. Presumably, Microsoft and Qualcomm have mustered something similar as it claims that Prism was specifically optimized to run on the Snapdragon X Elite silcon to achieve its 2X performance claims.
There are still a lot of unknowns about how these X Elite devices will work in the real world but looking past the X’s and Os of a new chip with dedicated NPUs, TOPS and expanded channels is the overlooked work need by Microsoft to make this a successful transition. For years the industry pointed to different culprits of the WinTel partnership that sagged on providing users quieter, cooler, and more performative devices, and soon, the industry might have its answers as to if it was the software or the hardware that was holding back the Windows ecosystem.
