Contrary to the belief that Apple and Microsoft would never allow their software to coexist on the same device, a developer has managed to run Windows 11 on the latest iPhone 15 Pro.
This feat was accomplished using a new emulator called UTM SE, available on the App Store. Emulation allows one hardware architecture to mimic another, enabling the iPhone’s ARM-based silicon to emulate a PC environment. Despite this technical success, the user experience is far from ideal.
The developer of a compact version of Windows 11, known as Tiny11, utilized UTM SE to get the OS running on the iPhone 15 Pro. The process showcases significant technical prowess but results in a rather rough and unrefined user experience.
Screenshots shared by NTDEV reveal that the emulated Windows 11 instance operates on modest virtual specifications: a 1GHz single-core CPU and 2GB of RAM. This is substantially below Windows 11’s standard requirements, which include at least 4GB of RAM.
NTDEV’s experiment highlights the limitations of running a full desktop OS on a mobile device. The performance is sluggish, with the boot process taking about 20 minutes.
The screenshots display a cramped and awkwardly framed Windows interface, emphasizing the challenges of fitting a desktop environment onto a smartphone screen. Although the text rendering and UI appear functional, the overall experience is hampered by significant performance issues.
The difference between emulation and virtualization is critical to understanding this accomplishment. Emulation involves mimicking an entirely different hardware architecture, whereas virtualization creates virtual environments within the same architecture.
UTM SE performs the complex task of translating Windows’ x86 instructions into ARM-compatible ones, allowing Windows 11 to run on the iPhone’s ARM-based processor.
While this endeavor is a novel achievement, it’s not unprecedented in the tech world. Enthusiasts have long been pushing the boundaries of what mobile devices can do, such as running PC and console games on smartphones. Recent advancements in smartphone technology have improved these capabilities.
Similar initiatives include Google demonstrating ChromeOS on an Android handset, illustrating that while integrating a full desktop OS onto an iPhone remains a technical challenge, it’s a pursuit that continues to capture the imagination of developers and tech enthusiasts alike.
