Google has reportedly confirmed that Google Drive will soon get native support for ARM chips. Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon announced at the company’s IFA event that Google will launch an Arm64 version of Google Drive on Windows later this year, according to technology news website The Verge. He added that NordVPN and ExpressVPN have arrived on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon laptops.
Additionally, he revealed that Qualcomm is exploring the possibility of Snapdragon chips in desktop PCs. Qualcomm has previously announced Snapdragon X Elite chips for desktop PCs, but the closest thing to a desktop PC is Qualcomm’s eight-inch dev kit. More details on desktop plans could be revealed at the Snapdragon summit in October.
What is the reason for the limitations of many apps on Arm-based Windows systems?
Microsoft announced AI-powered Copilot Plus PCs in May of this year. The new line of Arm-based Copilot+ PCs support select Adobe apps such as Photoshop, Lightroom, and Express, with other software supported out-of-the-box including DaVinci Resolve Studio, CapCut, Cephable, LiquidText, djay Pro, and more.
However, Windows on Arm has faced the issue of native support for many apps, as most apps are built to work with Windows on x86 processors and much software is not compatible with Arm architecture. Arm and x86 processors differ in their instruction set architecture and software compatibility.
Many apps now adapt to Windows on Arm processors, and Arm processors require software that is built specifically for their architecture. This has resulted in limitations for many apps, but with major software developers offering support, things are changing. Google Drive and VPN apps were missing from recently launched Copilot Plus PCs because they were required to be updated for Windows on Arm.
Qualcomm and Microsoft have been trying to convince app developers to port their applications to Windows on Arm. Now it looks like Google has been persuaded to make Drive a full-fledged app for Arm64 as well.
Google previously released a native version of Chrome for Windows PCs with Arm processors, before Qualcomm released the latest Arm processors for Windows. These processors were called the Snapdragon X Elite and arrived just in time for the launch of Copilot Plus in June.
Quick Share, Google’s file sharing app for Android devices, still doesn’t offer full ARM support.
First publication: 05 Sep 2024 | 12:22 PM IST