It’s been a few years now Windows has given up on mounting its own operating system on mobile devices. Today, most cell phones run on one operating system Android of Google or on iOS of Apple. Windows continues to dominate computers where it still maintains a 72% market share today.
If we told you that a group of enthusiasts managed to install the version of Windows 10 and 11 fully functional, you probably wouldn’t believe it. And yet it’s all true. The developers of the Renegade Project. Here’s how they did it.
Installing Windows 10 and 11 on smartphones: here’s how they did it
The challenge was arduous but in the end it proved successful. A group of technology enthusiasts managed to install Windows on smartphones. He did it on devices like OnePlus 5, LG G8x or Xiaomi PocoPhone F1.
How did they do it? The trick is in the similarity between the Snapdragon 850 and it Snapdragon 845. The first is for desktop devices, the second for mobile. Clearly it is not easy to succeed, but behind it there is painstaking work and above all a great knowledge of operating systems. Since the Windows operating system was not designed to run on mobile phones, developers had to do some hacking work on the firmware just to get it to run on smartphones. Then there was a need to make major changes to the core and drivers specific to the reference device.
In the end, as can also be seen from the videos published on Youtube, they succeeded in making Windows work on smartphones. With the Windows 10 or 11 operating systems they were also able to play the most famous PC video games such as Crysis 3 or Tomb Raider.
Clearly it was not easy to achieve this feat, also because smartphones do not have a large memory capacity to run a heavy and complex operating system like Windows. But when testing Windows 11 with devices like the OnePlus 6T, developers were surprised at how much 8GB RAM managed to run Windows. This is very positive as it highlights that in some mobile phones there is enough power to perform important tasks within this operating system. And the example of video games is clear.
This experiment is important because it shows not only that you can play the most famous PC video games on your mobile phone but also shows where technology is going, with smartphones that are increasingly powerful on a par with a computer and that are capable of running even a system. operating so heavy and not meant for them.
Among the functions still to be developed is the possibility of connecting to external screens to use the mobile phone exclusively as a processor and to be able to better visualize what we see when running Windows. However, the fault is not on the developers but on the hardware side since most mobile phones do not include a video output via USB-C. This can be overcome by connecting via wi-fi, but the latency period is too high.
The official list of models tested and currently able to run Windows is constantly updated. At the moment we find:
- ASUS
ASUS ZenFone 5Z
- AYN
Odin
- Google
Google Pixel 3
- LG
LG G7 ThinQ
LG V30
LG V35
LG V40
- Meizu
Meizu 16
Meizu 16 Plus
- Motorola
Moto Z2 Force
- Nokia
Nokia 9 PureView
- OnePlus
OnePlus 5
OnePlus 5T
OnePlus 6
OnePlus 6T
OnePlus 7
OnePlus 7 Pro
- OPPO
OPPO Find
- Qualcomm
Snapdragon 720G QRD
- Samsung
Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus
- Smartisan
Smartisan Nut R1
- Sony
Sony Xperia XZ2
- Xiaomi
Black Shark
Mi 6
Mi 8
Mi 8 Pro
Mi 9
Mi Mix 2
Mi Mix 2S
Mi Mix 3
Mi Mix 3 5G
Mi Pad 4
Mi Pad 5
POCO F1
Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
- I live
Vivo NEX Dual Display
- ZTE
ZTE Axon 9 Pro
ZTE Nubia
