Basically:

Intel, AMD, and Microsoft are all going down a dead-end road called x86_64, especially on portable devices.

Apple and Google took a turn ages ago, towards an alternative called aarch64. Originally just for phones, but now for everything.

VR headsets, Raspberry Pis, IoT devices, etc. also tend to run aarch or aarch64.

Microsoft has been trying to follow suit, but it hasn’t gone well so far. Windows for ARM (the aarch64 version of Windows) is supremely unpopular, for a lot of (mostly good) reasons.

So people avoid the devices or ditch them because none of their apps run natively. But Microsoft basically has no choice but to keep pushing.

So the end result is, Microsoft is subsidizing tons of excellent hardware that will never be used for Windows cuz it’s just not ready yet.

But Linux is!

Edit:

Funny thing is, ARM (company behind aarch64) keeps shooting themselves in the foot, to the point where lots of companies are hedging their bets with a dark horse called RISC-V that never had a snowball’s chance in Hell before, but now could possibly win.

And if Microsoft still hasn’t built a new home on aarch64 by the time that happens, they may accidentally be in the best position to capitalize on it.

ARM architecture 64 bit. It’s the style of CPU in your phone and MacBooks, known for being energy efficient and it’s performance is getting better too.

The big downside though is that loads of old Windows apps aren’t going to run on these as effortlessly as they would on conventional x86-64 CPUs from Intel and AMD.