As the ARM architecture becomes more prevalent in the composition of new Windows PCs and devices, it is delivering great performance. With PandaSuite, you can now export compatible Windows applications and provide a great user experience adapted to these new processors.

PandaSuite is once again at the cutting edge of innovation. While Microsoft and Apple are making strategic shifts in their choice of processors, your favorite app maker allows you to deploy your applications on the latest devices and in the best formats.

What is an ARM architecture? What are its advantages? Which devices are involved? And why is it essential for you to have an application for ARM?

ARM processors: higher performance architecture and better autonomy

Until now, the vast majority of computers have relied on only one family of processors: x64 and x86 processors, produced mainly by Intel and AMD. With the age of mobile devices, things have changed and another family is now on the rise: ARM processors.

The processor is a component that executes machine instructions.

The ARM architecture is an architecture of processors with higher performance and lower power consumption. Instead of being structured around a single, high-powered processor, it is a set of multi-core processors running side by side, each running according to the task at hand. Thanks to their lower power consumption, ARM processors offer unrivalled autonomy, sometimes with more than a day of continuous use. ARM devices also benefit from the experience gained with smartphones.

ARM processors are produced by different manufacturers under license with the British company ARM. In particular, Qualcomm and its Snapdragon 8cx is the best performing processor.

Snapdragon, Qualcomm’s most powerful processor

ARM processors are coming on PC and soon on Mac

In 2017, ARM announced that more than 100 billion ARM processors had been produced! Today many devices already use the ARM system such as the iPad, the Nintendo Switch or the Thermomix TM5… What’s new is that it is being integrated more and more widely into computer models, in order to harmonize performance between smartphones, tablets and computers.

Microsoft has fully embraced the ARM architecture with its Surface Pro X, but also by developing “Windows on ARM”, a Windows 10 entirely dedicated to ARM Snapdragon processors, and by promoting and developing software tools to encourage developers, etc.

The Surface Pro X tablet, the flagship of ARM technology at Microsoft

Last June, Apple announced the replacement of its x86 Mac processor line with its own line of “Apple Silicon” processors on ARM. According to some media reports, Apple plans to launch ARM 64-based Macs before the end of the year.

The announcement of Apple and its own ARM64 processors

The need for application compatibility

One of the main issues is application compatibility.

On Windows 10 on ARM, X64 applications are not supported (for the moment – Windows is about to announce support). Only native Windows 10 ARM applications and a limited selection of x86 applications running with emulation technologies are available to users. But for those, the performance level is lower.

It is therefore essential to deploy native Windows 10 ARM applications on these devices, and this is now possible with PandaSuite.

Export your ARM app with PandaSuite

Prepare your screens without any lines of code. When exporting your EXE file, you can now choose between ARM (64 bits), but also the other formats x64 (64 bits) or x86 (32 bits).

Export your ARM app without any line of code