This will allow Qualcomm's new chips to run more types of apps that don't have native ARM64 versions and previously weren't usable with emulation. It could even enable games that use AVX2 Starfield And Helldivers 2, to work under Windows on Arm.
With this update, Microsoft's emulator opens support for 64-bit x86 software to use processor extensions such as AVX, AVX2, BMI, FMA and F16C. However, it is said that 32-bit software still cannot detect the new emulator support, so some programs may still have problems.
While many apps, including Photoshop, Hulu and Chrome, already have native ARM64 versions for Windows, others require emulation and some still don't work at all. Microsoft says the new emulator is already enabled on retail PCs “in a limited way,” allowing Premiere Pro 25 to run on ARM – after being initially blocked – while Adobe works on a native version.
Correction, November 6th: An earlier version of the article incorrectly stated that Blender needs to be emulated. There is now an ARM64 version.