Samsung is apparently walking in Apple’s footsteps and looking to transition its laptop lineup from Intel X86-64 to ARM. The company is reportedly working on ARM-based Exynos processors specifically for Windows computers. According to tipster, @MauriQHD, the chip meant for Windows computers will be based on the upcoming Exynos 1000 SoC.
Interestingly, Samsung might already have a PC-specific ARM processor based on one of the current Exynos chips. However, the company is apparently apprehensive that it might not be good enough to power a full-fledged Windows machine. SamMobile claims that the current PC-specific processor is based on the Exynos 990 – the chip that powers Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S20-series smartphones.
The news follows Apple’s announcement of its first ARM-powered custom Mac processor at WWDC 2020 last month. The first ARM-powered Mac will release before the end of the year, but there’s no specific ETA for that just yet. According to the company, switching to ARM will allow iOS apps to run natively on the Mac. It is also expected to be more power efficient than Intel’s chips, but whether they’ll be able to compete on raw performance remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, even as Apple is transitioning from X86-64, Windows 10 on ARM is yet to catch on in a way that Microsoft would have hoped for. It will be interesting to see if Samsung will be able to add some impetus to the fledgling OS going forward. However, the inherent weaknesses of the RISC architecture means that it won’t be replacing X86-64 any time soon.
