Technology giant Microsoft has reportedly joined hands with leading semiconductor company Qualcomm for creating a Windows on ARM-based dev kit for developers. According to the credible sources, the miniature PC will be available at the Microsoft Store for sale from this summer and has been designed to be more cost-effective in a bid to encourage the developers to create ARM64 apps for Snapdragon-based PCs.

Till date, developers reportedly had to purchase devices such as the Surface Pro X for fully testing their ARM64 apps on Windows. That is apparently an expensive exercise for developers, especially when the Surface Pro X costs from $999 and more.

As Microsoft and Qualcomm have not disclosed the price on the new dev kit, it is expected to be more cost-friendly than what developers can purchase today.

Speaking of the developer kit, senior director of product management at Qualcomm, Miguel Nunes stated that it offers an affordable alternative to other consumer and commercial devices. With smaller desktop configuration, this kit provides the developers with more flexibility as compared to the notebook options and at a lower price point, Nunes added.

The announcement regarding the dev kit apparently comes just after the launch of Qualcomm’s second-generation Snapdragon 7c ARM-powered processor. The product has reportedly been developed for the entry-level Chromebooks and Windows PCs, with a higher clock speed than the original.

Sources have reported that the dev kit will allow the developers to test the new x64 app emulation by Microsoft for Windows on ARM. This reportedly went into testing in December for Windows and help users run 64-bit apps that have not been compiled for ARM-based devices so far. The emulation layer is expected to offer a complete host of app compatibility to Windows on ARM once it is fully available to the end users.

Source credits: https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/25/22452710/microsoft-qualcomm-windows-on-arm-dev-kit-pc-features-release-date