Windows 11 has gained a lot of friends due to its ability to run certain Android apps (via the Amazon app store) directly on the desktop without fuss, and with the upgrade to Windows, things have gotten a lot better on the mobile gaming front Subsystem for Android (WSA).
This is still in the testing phase, and the new version of WSA (spotted by Neovin (opens in a new tab)) comes with the fresh preview build of Windows 11 that has just been released (Build 25295 which introduces the small but nifty change we talked about earlier).
With WSA version 2301.40000.4.0, the frame rate increased by 40% to 50% for both AMD and Intel processors. There is also a significant increase for those using an ARM processor, although a more modest increase of 10% to 20%.
It’s not just about smoother frame rates, though, as there are plenty of other important tweaks as Microsoft details in this one blog post (opens in a new tab).
This includes a fix for zooming out of apps with the mouse (or touchpad) so this now works properly, and overall reliability improvements (with better audio input lag, to boot). Android 13 security updates are also included with this new release which is good to see.
Analysis: Of course, the proof will be in the pudding
A 50% FPS increase – or close to that – is of course huge and will make playing Android games much smoother on a Windows 11 PC. In any case, it should be enough; keep in mind that this version is still in the testing phase, so surely at the moment something may not work as planned.
We have to take Microsoft’s word for it that the profits will actually be that big, but the fact that the company said 40% to 50% instead of “up to 50%” certainly makes it clear that it should mean a huge difference between Android app boards on Windows 11 desktop.
Working on improving overall stability will no doubt go a long way towards making WSA a more user-friendly experience, and having the latest security updates is another important step forward.
WSA has long been considered a big advantage of Windows 11, as Windows 10 doesn’t have it – although we recently saw a workaround to get WSA on the latter (although the method is clunky and the results can be unpredictable, so proceed at your own risk on this front ).