- Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon X chip will rival Apple's M series chips in the ARM-based processor market for PCs.
- Qualcomm uses X Identifier and simplified tiering to help users understand platform capabilities easily and leverage the Snapdragon brand.
Meanwhile, these chips will be the first to incorporate technology from Nuvia, a chip design startup that Qualcomm acquired a few years ago.
Let's discuss the Snapdragon processor for PCs further!
While specific details about the upcoming chips are limited at the moment, Qualcomm has announced the new Snapdragon X branding for these chips.
Notably, they will feature Qualcomm's custom Oryon CPU cores instead of off-the-shelf ARM designs. According to the company, the Oryon cores are expected to revolutionize performance and power efficiency.
However, concrete numbers and a comparison with Apple's M-series processor or the latest x86 chips from Intel and AMD are yet to be revealed.
Initially, Microsoft's decision to support ARM chips in Windows was met with enthusiasm. The prospect of having energy-efficient and always-connected features on Windows PCs seemed groundbreaking.
Meanwhile, when the first batch of Windows on ARM computers hit the market, they failed to live up to expectations. Qualcomm's initial chips for PCs were essentially smartphone processors with higher power consumption limits.
Moreover, these systems were more expensive than anticipated, and battery life didn't meet expectations.
As Intel and AMD enhanced the efficiency of their x86 chips, opting for an x86-based system became a wiser choice, considering they could deliver comparable battery life to ARM-based models.
Despite Qualcomm's efforts to improve its PC chip lineup, Windows on ARM still faces challenges.
Meanwhile, the lack of notable advantages and the tendency for non-ARM-compiled apps to run slower on Windows PCs with Qualcomm processors than on their x86 counterparts have hindered widespread adoption.
Now, Qualcomm is gearing up to unveil its latest chip, the Snapdragon X, which will compete head-to-head with Apple's M series chips in the ARM-based processor market for PCs.
Qualcomm states, "2024 will be an inflection point for the PC industry, and Snapdragon X compute platforms will deliver next-level performance, AI, connectivity, and battery life".
Like Meta, Qualcomm is set to make its incoming PC chips utilize artificial intelligence to enhance user connectivity.
However, this announcement comes after Qualcomm's recent Snapdragon 8Cx compute platform release in 2018.
The company's decision to introduce a new naming convention and design for PC platforms resulted from meticulous analysis, consumer input, and feedback from the PC industry.
By utilizing the X Identifier to differentiate PC platforms and employing a simplified tiering structure, Qualcomm aims to help users comprehend platform capabilities more easily. This approach also leverages the globally recognized Snapdragon brand equity.
Qualcomm emphasizes that the Snapdragon X series platform is built upon years of experience in engineering heterogeneous compute architectures across the CPU, GPU, and NPU.
This inclusion of Oryon CPUs, announced last year, is expected to improve performance and efficiency substantially. However, the NPU will facilitate on-device processing for generative AI applications. Notably, the new chip will also offer 5G connectivity.
Conclusions
As Qualcomm gears up for the future, its Snapdragon processor for PCs and Snapdragon chips will play an integral role in reshaping the landscape of computing devices.
With a focus on performance, AI capabilities, connectivity, and battery life, Qualcomm aims to establish Snapdragon X as a dominant player in the PC industry.