The unlikely union was made possible thanks to a new emulator called UTM SE thatrecently hitthe App Store.
Emulation is essentially a way to mimic one hardware architecture on a totally different platform.
In this case, UTM SE is emulating a PC environment on Apple’s ARM-based iPhone silicon.
It’s certainly a technical achievement, but the experience looks pretty rough around the edges.
It’s not exactly a powerhouse configuration for Microsoft’s desktop OS, even in its slimmed-down form.
Performance looks like it’s, well, let’s just say sluggish.
NTDEV says it took a whopping 20 minutes just to boot into the emulated Windows environment.
The text rendering and UI windows seem to work reasonably well, though.
It’s important to note that emulation and virtualization are distinct technologies.
Emulation mimics a completely different hardware architecture, while virtualization just creates virtual environments on the same underlying architecture.
In this case, UTM SE is doing some heavy lifting by translating Windows' x86 instructions to ARM.
For years, Android power users have been finding ways to run PC and console games on their phones.
And with ever-improving smartphone silicon, those games nowrun smootherthan ever.
Masthead credit:Rohan
