Microsoft hints at Win32 apps on Continuum for phones, indirectly at Surface phone

Continuum for Phones is the main tentpole feature of Microsoft’s new flagships, but does not solve the issue of the lack of apps in the Windows Store.

What if, besides the 650,000 apps in the Windows Store, you also had access to the 7 million x86 Windows desktop apps.

At Microsoft’s Connect2015 event Kevin Gallo, VP for Windows Developer Platform, hinted that such support may be coming.

Will Win32 desktop apps be able to run on phones using continuum? Kevin Gallo says it’s something they’re looking at. #Connect2015

— Ginny Caughey (@gcaughey) November 18, 2015

Kevin did not expand on how Microsoft would enable this, but we do have a guess.

Microsoft has already said they intend to bring Win32 applications to the Windows Store (Project Centennial) but these apps would not be able to run on ARM processors like the Lumia 950 XL.

If a phone had an x86 processor, like the the much rumoured Surface phone, running containerized Windows 32 apps should be rather trivial, especially of they only run on a large screen and are otherwise suspended while your phone is disconnected.

Would such a feature convince our readers to get the Surface phone? Let us know below.

[via link=”https://twitter.com/gcaughey/status/667078059057614848″]Ginny Caughey[/via]