Did you ever think you’d see Windows 11 on an Apple iPhone? Probably not, but one clever dude has managed to get Microsoft’s desktop operating system running on an iPhone 15 Pro.
This feat was achieved by NTDEV, the developer of Small11which is a lightweight version of Windows 11 that you may be familiar with. Proof comes in a post on X with screenshots of the OS in action on the iPhone (and a video is promised to be uploaded soon).
Behold, probably the very first instance of Windows 11 (in the form of tiny11 core) on UTM SE. It’s TERRIBLY slow, boots in about 20 minutes, but it’s still Windows 11 on an iPhone 15 Pro! pic.twitter.com/Iyr5Txy8uhJuly 20, 2024
How exactly was this implemented? NTDEV used Tiny11 Core (the most compact version – with the install size reduced to 3GB) and ran it via emulation with UTM SE (Slow Edition). The latter is a PC emulator that only appeared in Apple’s App Store last week.
How Windows 11 Performs on an iPhone
Looking at NTDEV’s screenshots, you’ll notice that the resolution and aspect ratio have been significantly reduced, and the interface is cramped and doesn’t look quite right. That’s to be expected when running Windows 11 on a relatively small smartphone screen, when it’s designed to be viewed on large desktop monitors.
Given this, we can’t imagine using the desktop OS on an iPhone 15 would be much fun, and there are undoubtedly performance issues – it seems you’re limited to working with one window open at a time. That said, if Tom’s Hardware (who noted this) points out that other aspects, such as the rendering of text, appear to be well preserved.
Even the developer explains that Windows 11 isn’t very “usable” in this form, admitting in the original post on X that the OS took about 20 minutes to boot, which is clearly unacceptable. But really – what do you expect when you try to cram Windows 11 onto a smartphone?
So all in all, this is a respectable achievement in its own right, even if it has no real practical use. It’s an intriguing exploration of what’s possible in the context of smartphones and operating systems, and kudos to the developers at both Tiny11 and UTM SE.