Microsoft announces high system requirements Amazon Appstore for Android apps

Microsoft announces the system requirements for the Amazon Appstore, which appear to be much higher than the requirements for Windows 10 and 11. The official platform for Android apps is currently in beta in the US; it is therefore not clear whether the requirements are final.

Systems must have at least 8GB of RAM, according to the Amazon application’s Microsoft Store page. There should also be an eighth generation Intel processor, a Ryzen 3000 series cpu or a Snapdragon 8c series soc. According to a post on Deskmodder, users with systems that do not comply are not stopped from downloading the test version of the Amazon Appstore for Windows 11. This may indicate that Microsoft is not enforcing the system requirements or will change it in the long run.

The system requirements in question are striking, as they are much heavier than the already much-discussed requirements for Windows 11. The operating system requires 4GB of ram and a processor with at least 2 cores and a clock speed of at least 1GHz. Even most third-generation Intel CPUs and Ryzen 1000-series processors meet this requirement, but would not meet the requirements of the Amazon Appstore. Presumably, Amazon and Microsoft are making such demands because of the security benefits of newer chips, the same reason Windows 11 requires TPM 2.0, for example. However, that does not explain the difference in requirements between Windows 11 and the Amazon Appstore.

Also the final Android applications would theoretically not need such hardware in terms of computing power. After all, the apps must also function on smartphones with an older Snapdragon soc. The fact that Microsoft uses Intel Bridge technology to support Android apps on Windows 10 and 11 may partly explain the high system requirements for Amazon’s Appstore.

System Requirements Amazon Appstore for Windows 11. Image via Microsoft Store