'Rudimentary' Photoshop for iPad highlights Surface Pro X strengths

Microsoft's new Surface Pro X represents the company that puts all its weight behind Windows 10 in ARM. It is the largest design review that the Surface Pro line has seen in years, and Microsoft has even developed a custom ARM chip, based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx, to power it all.

Still, there are still concerns about how well ARM chips can handle traditional desktop application emulation. While there will be successes in performance when running x86 applications, a new report on Adobe's progress in Photoshop for iPad makes it clear that Surface Pro X's ability to emulate desktop applications gives it a significant advantage.

A difficult start

Adobe's work to create a native and complete version of Photoshop for iPad dates back to last year. The company announced Photoshop CC for iPad before the launch of the renewed Apple iPad Pro in October 2018, and is expected to be launched in full by the end of 2019.

A new Bloomberg report states that the application will debut with several missing features, however. In citing conversations with current beta testers, Bloomberg states:

Bloomberg also announces that evaluators have called Photoshop for iPad "rudimentary" in its current state, adding that applications such as Procreate and Affinity Photo for iPad are currently superior options. "As for the features, it looks like an improved cloud-based version of your existing iPad apps and not & # 39; real Photoshop & # 39; as advertised," said a tester.

Honoring "Pro"

This is not entirely unexpected, since Adobe stated that Photoshop for iPad will develop features over time, but that it will lack some capabilities at launch. Still, it highlights one of the great advantages of the work that Microsoft has done to ensure that traditional desktop applications can run on Windows 10 on ARM devices.

Since launch, Surface Pro X will be able to run the full Photoshop experience, as well as any other x86 desktop application that exists. Since Surface Pro X is in a slightly hazy space where it is likely to be compared with two other PCs and with the iPad Pro, that is an important distinction.

As we have seen with Windows 10 earlier on ARM PC, there will finally be a performance impact imposed by emulation. As an example, the senior editor of Windows Central, Zac Bowden, recently took a look at the start of Photoshop on a Surface Pro X, and it certainly wasn't what one would consider agile.

We can earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.