Hacker brings Windows 10 ARM to Lumia smartphone

Windows 10 Mobile was a bit of a disaster for Microsoft, to say the least. Between the Android/iOS duopoly, app gap and the ridiculously unpolished nature in the first few months, there’s little wonder why Microsoft has quietly killed it.

Unfortunately, the Redmond company doesn’t plan to bring Windows 10 ARM (the Windows 10 for mobile devices) to Lumia phones. But where there’s a will, there’s a way, and an enterprising hacker has apparently got Windows 10 ARM to boot up on the Lumia 950.

Win10 ARM on #lumia 950. #wpinternals #Windows10 #ARM pic.twitter.com/51dHpOsl8X

— Blaze (@Blaze_CW) January 18, 2018

The hack was apparently made possible by the use of the WPInternals third-party utility. The utility effectively unlocks Lumia devices, allowing for homebrew software, custom ROMs and other forms of tinkering.

What we want to know is whether this take on Windows 10 runs native apps well enough on the Lumia 950. After all, the current Windows 10 ARM devices sport powerful Snapdragon 835 chipsets, being several generations newer (and exponentially more powerful) than the Snapdragon 808 and 810 seen in the Lumia 950 and 950 XL. So it wouldn’t be a question of “is it slower?” but rather “how much slower is it?”.

Another interesting thought is whether this take on Windows 10 could eventually take advantage of the Continuum Dock, enabling a full-screen Windows 10 experience…

In any event, it’s rather cool to see the older, largely abandoned platform get some love from the community.