The PC Revolution: It was not Apple or Microsoft that chose ARM, but history

Author | Li Shuaifei

Human personal computer platform is undergoing a major transformation.

Specifically, the ARM-based processor ecosystem is further showing a trend of occupying PCs.

In this big trend, there are operating system giants like Microsoft, SoC veterans like Qualcomm, and of course super players like Apple.

There are even reports that hardware giant Samsung is also building ARM-based Windows PC chips.

It seems unexpected, yet reasonable.

In a nutshell: ARM was chosen.

In the evolution of personal computing platforms, Microsoft's Windows has actually been eyeing ARM for a long time, but the cause was Apple's iPad.

The first generation iPad was released in January 2010 by the late Apple founder Steve Jobs himself, and it was also very popular at the time.

One of the key points is:

As soon as it was released, it adopted Apple's self-developed A4 processor, which is based on ARM.

It should be noted that the specifications of the A4 processor built into the first-generation iPad are different from those of the A4 processor built into the iPhone 4. The former is 1GHz, while the latter is 800MHz.

Since then, Apple has often adopted a similar variant upgrade strategy for the processor configuration of the iPhone and iPad. The difference is that the processor names have suffixes to distinguish them - this is a story for later and I won’t go into details.

The point is that with the iPad, Apple pioneered the tablet computer category, and this category has been based on ARM from the beginning.

Apple chose the ARM ecosystem, on the one hand because of the homology between iPad and iPhone in operating system structure and the resulting symbiotic relationship in application ecology, and on the other hand because of the independent research and development and controllability of the A series chips.

Of course, being based on ARM also brings advantages to the iPad in terms of battery life.

Microsoft has taken note of all of the above.

Especially since the iPad became so popular, Microsoft has been coveting the tablet computer product category.

Soon after, Microsoft launched a streamlined (or castrated) version of the Windows RT operating system specifically for the ARM architecture at the Windows operating system level, and also began the difficult expansion towards the ARM platform at the hardware core level.

Later facts proved that Microsoft's initial attempt was a failure.

In June 2012, Microsoft released a product called Surface RT in Los Angeles.

This is a new form factor device that combines the form factors of a laptop and a tablet; in terms of operating system, it can only support programs in the Microsoft App Store, but cannot run traditional Windows exe applications.

From the perspective of application ecology, this laid the seeds for Microsoft's first failure in its impact on ARM.

Of course, the Surface RT is equipped with the Tegra 3 T30 quad-core processor launched by NVIDIA, which is an ARM architecture-based processor that has great advantages in power consumption but has reduced performance.

At the same time, Microsoft also launched the Surface Pro, which is still equipped with an Intel processor and a complete Windows operating system.

The situation of the second generation is similar to that of the first generation.

The Surface RT 2 uses the Tegra 4 T40 processor, while the Surface Pro 2 still works with Intel.

However, perhaps due to the castration of Windows RT in the system, users were not satisfied with the Surface RT series - in the end, Microsoft confirmed the discontinuation of Surface 2 on January 28, 2015.

By the third generation, both Surface 3 and Surface Pro 3 are equipped with the full version of Windows operating system and use Intel processors in hardware.

In other words, Microsoft's first attempt to migrate to the ARM platform through WIndows RT and Surface RT ultimately ended in failure.

However, Microsoft did not give up.

Especially after the birth of its new generation operating system Windows 10.

Windows 10 is actually a turning point for Microsoft.

On the one hand, the release of Windows 10 is actually a repositioning of the Windows operating system by Microsoft, and it is a more sober positioning, which pushes Windows 10 to be free for individual users.

On the other hand, Windows 10 has become an important carrier for Microsoft to move towards ARM.

On December 8, 2016, at the WinHEC hardware conference held in Shenzhen, China, Qualcomm, which has never had much to do with PCs, suddenly appeared at the conference venue; at the conference, Microsoft officially announced that Windows 10 will fully support the ARM ecosystem and will use Qualcomm as a partner.

Based on this collaboration, hardware partners will be able to launch Windows 10 PCs powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, which can run Win32 desktop applications based on the x86 architecture and universal Windows applications.

According to Leifeng.com, the reason why Windows 10 can support ARM chips is because it uses an emulator to run Win32 programs - but it does not support running 64-bit programs.

Of course, there is a bigger picture here: during the development of Windows 10, the performance of ARM processors has been continuously improved. Its number of instructions per cycle (IPC), number of cores and threads, as well as connection options and integration are very high and are constantly being optimized.

In other words, the rapid development of the ARM ecosystem in the field of mobile Internet has enabled it to carry PCs.

At that time, at the WinHEC site, Microsoft and Qualcomm worked together to demonstrate the scenario of Windows 10 running on Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, and the operation was quite smooth.

On May 31, 2017, at the Taipei International Computer Show, Qualcomm announced that ASUS, HP and Lenovo became the first OEM manufacturers to use Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 to develop mobile PCs.

Half a year later, ASUS NovaGo and HP ENVY X2, two Windows 10 devices based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 platform, finally made their debut; with a slight performance compromise, these two devices can achieve a battery life of more than a whole day.

Through Qualcomm, Windows 10 has finally achieved integration with ARM, although it is not perfect.

In December 2018, while launching the Snapdragon 855 processor, Qualcomm also launched the latest generation of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx chips specifically for Windows 10 systems. Currently, PCs based on Qualcomm 8cx chips are also on sale.

However, judging from the current general market feedback, Windows 10 devices based on the ARM ecosystem are not very popular. With X86 as the architecture, Intel and ARM have been threatened, but they are still the market leaders in personal computer processors.

At this time, Apple personally entered the scene.

Apple's entry into the market was not without signs. After all, the A series processors used by iPhones and iPads have been continuously upgraded since the A4, and their computing power has become higher and higher; at the same time, the synergy between Macs and mobile devices such as iPads has also become higher and higher.

Of course, Apple is also accustomed to and good at keeping core components such as processors in its own hands.

So, after two or three years of rumors, Apple finally announced the official news that Mac will migrate to Apple Silicon at WWDC in June this year.

Not only that, based on Apple's own control over the ecosystem and its software and hardware integration capabilities, as well as its appeal in the developer community, Apple has also given a specific timetable, and is expected to launch ARM-based Mac devices as early as the end of 2020.

Apple also said that the transition of Mac to Apple Silicon will be completed in about two years - quite fast.

Regarding this transformation, Apple said that the shift to Apple Silicon is the biggest leap in Mac history - this is not just a transformation of Apple's Mac processor platform, but essentially a transformation of the entire Mac application ecosystem.

But in fact, this transformation does not only belong to Apple.

Considering Apple's brand influence in the minds of consumers and its industry status in the PC field, this is actually a landmark change for the entire PC industry.

At least from the perspective of processor architecture platform, thanks to Apple's support, the balance of the entire PC industry has begun to shift from X86 to ARM.

According to market research firm Wikibon, ARM-based PCs will be more productive and global sales will accelerate starting in 2024.

预估 2025 至 2030 年，全球 ARM 架构 PC 出货量将显著增长，至 2030 年全球出货量可达 2.3 亿台左右。

However, Wikibon also puts forward a premise:

X86 芯片供应商未来几年在设计和工艺战略上都未能有显著突破，且苹果和微软持续大举投资发展基于 ARM 架构的 PC 平台、以及自有软件生态统。

In the view of Leifeng.com, this premise is almost inevitable.

The wave of technological development often appears in ways that people least expect.

For example, when Steve Jobs released the iPhone in 2007, no one could have imagined that it would lead to such a huge change in the next decade or so, both at the device level and at the Internet level.

For example, who would have thought that the changes in the mobile device ecosystem and mobile Internet were so drastic that it took less than 10 years to help the ARM ecosystem transcend the boundaries of mobile devices and thereby promote changes in the relatively old PC industry.

This is a miracle.

But on the other hand, the PC industry, which has existed for decades, also needs to constantly transform itself in the wave of technological development, such as accepting the ARM ecosystem - in this way, it can continuously improve its vitality and better serve mankind.

After all, running water does not rot, and a door hinge does not rot.