While the news regarding PC sales in general has been pretty bleak lately, one segment of the market is bucking the trend and actually growing: Arm-based laptops.
as Toms Hardware Report (opens in a new tab)sales of Arm-based laptops not only increased last year, but are expected to grow again this year as well.
This was a notable change of fortune, as the laptop market was largely dominated by Intel (and to a lesser extent, AMD) hardware-powered devices, especially processors. In the past, there have been attempts to release laptops running a specially designed version of Windows called Windows on ARM (and sometimes Windows on Snapdragon) and an Arm-based architecture.
Arm system-on-chip (SoC) is mainly used in mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, the idea of these early Arm-based laptops is that they will bring some of the benefits of these devices, such as long battery life and almost instant boot time, laptops .
However, this didn’t go as planned.
mostly armless
The problem with Arm-based Windows laptops, at least early on, is that while they do offer Some Among these features, especially long battery life, they are hampered by poor performance, poor software support (many apps are not Arm compatible), and a high price tag.
This led to Arm-based laptops being dismissed by many for a long time. Of course, there are some bright spots. Many of the best Chromebooks use Arm processors, and those popular laptops show that it’s possible to create great devices with the hardware.
However, Chrome OS, which runs on Chromebooks, is an operating system designed to be as lightweight as possible, with apps (including Android apps) that are Arm-compatible.
For people who want a more flexible and powerful operating system, Arm-based laptops are still not viable.
enter apple
While Microsoft’s attempts to get Windows laptops to run on Arm hardware have faltered, Apple’s presence makes it look easy.
In 2020, the company introduced the M1 chip — an Arm-based SoC that debuted with the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) and, in my opinion, remains one of the best laptops you can buy — and the 13-inch MacBook Pro (M1, 2020).
Suddenly, the potential of Arm-based laptops was realized. There are powerful laptops out there that outperform previous Intel-based models while dramatically improving battery life. Crucially, they run the full macOS operating system, with Apple making sure that major apps are either compatible with the M1 or run through a compatibility layer using Rosetta 2 tools.
Many of the criticisms of Windows on Arm laptops and even Chromebooks can’t be aimed at these new MacBooks. Performance matches or exceeds Intel and AMD chips, and you can run a full-featured operating system and all your favorite apps for a fraction of the price. Apple never releases a budget laptop, but these M1 machines launch at the same price as previous models.
As the tide rises, Apple’s success with its M1 MacBook means the overall Arm laptop market has grown, according to Counterpoint Studies (opens in a new tab) The display market share grew from 11% in 2021 to 13% in 2022, and is expected to reach 15% this year.
The scale of Apple’s influence on the Arm laptop market is clear, with Apple capturing a whopping 90 percent share, competing with more established Arm chipmakers MediaTek and Qualcomm.
New laptops running Windows or Chrome OS and based on MediaTek and Qualcomm hardware will also arrive this year, along with Apple’s new M2, M2 Pro and M2 Max chips in a new batch of MacBooks, giving Counterpoint Research confidence in its forecast for Arm laptops The market share of computers will continue to rise in the coming years, reaching 25% by 2027. This is certainly ambitious and means Arm-based laptops will outsell AMD-based laptops, but unlike a few years ago, I can actually see that happening.
What does this mean for Windows, Intel and AMD?
While Apple clearly dominates the Arm market, with Chromebooks not far behind, it does present an opportunity for Windows on Arm devices. The stigma around Arm devices has largely disappeared thanks to Apple’s success, and while I’m often hesitant to suggest that Microsoft copy Apple, I’m going to do so here: Microsoft! Copy apples!
Specifically, ensuring that there is an increasing number of Windows applications and software libraries that are compatible with Arm devices. If application developers are hesitant, come up with a solution that works as well as Apple’s Rosetta 2. Basically, people need to be able to pick up a Windows on Arm laptop and run all their favorite applications.
Laptop makers such as Dell, HP, and Lenovo are sure to have their eyes on this growing market and want to enter it. Hopefully we’ll see an increase in the number of laptops using the latest technology from MediaTek and Qualcomm from these brands. The more choices the better, especially as much as I love the M1 and M2 MacBooks, I don’t want to see Apple (or any company) so dominant in the market.
For Intel and AMD, the growth is even more worrisome. Laptops never felt like they were a priority for AMD, but it could still feel a sting if Arm laptops outsell its own by 2027. As for Intel, it will still maintain a healthy market lead, but it will not be content to lose market share to competitors. Both companies need to be more competitive and offer similar advantages to Arm, especially when it comes to battery life.
To be fair, especially Intel, the two companies have recently put more emphasis on improving efficiency and thus extending battery life in laptops, which remains one of the top concerns for customers. Intel’s latest processors even combine efficiency and performance cores, which are already part of the Arm architecture.
So regardless of the platform, I think the growth of Arm laptops is nothing but a good thing. Will I be able to find an Arm-based Windows laptop that I actually want to use someday? Strange things happened.
