Qualcomm Looking to Combat Apple Silicon With New Generation of PC Chips

[MacRumors]

Qualcomm today announced plans for next-generation Arm-based System on Chips (SoC) designed to rival Apple's M-series chips in the PC space (via The Verge).

At Qualcomm's 2021 investor day event, chief technology officer Dr. James Thompson announced the plans for the new generation of chips. The chips are "designed to set the performance benchmark for Windows PCs" and are being developed by the Nuvia team. Qualcomm acquired Nuvia, a chip startup company founded by former Apple chip designers, for $1.4 billion earlier this year.

Qualcomm said that it will directly compete with Apple's M-series chips, including the M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max, and hopes to lead the industry for "sustained performance and battery life." Moreover, the company promised that it would be scaling up its Adreno GPUs to offer desktop-class gaming capabilities in future PCs. Qualcomm hopes to be able to send samples to clients in around nine months, ahead of the first products containing the chips launching in 2023.

Article Link: Qualcomm Looking to Combat Apple Silicon With New Generation of PC Chips

 

[Serban55]

So another surface pro x SQ® 3 ? ))))
you cant compete on PC QUalcomm...its futile since you dont have your own software on that segment

 

[Zaft]

Good luck. By 2023 apple will be far ahead.

 

[alpi123]

Competition is never bad.

But it takes them so long to even try to catch up Apple...

 

[Serban55]

desktop-class gaming capabilities in future PCs

so, desktop class gaming on windows arm ?

 

[sparkinstx]

So will Microsoft support these with Windows 11 for ARM? They've pretty much said they're not going to support Windows 11 VMs on Apple silicon. I don't really know who the bad guy is regarding Windows 11 on ARM for Macs, whether it's MS, Apple, or Intel.

 

[SactoGuy18]

They'll never catch up to Apple. Reason: the Apple M-series SoC's a highly optimized for MacOS, something that the Qualcomm ARM-based SoC's may not be able to do unless Windows 11 on ARM is written to take full advantage of the Qualcomm ARM design.

 

[topdrawer]

if only apple paid their designers better to retain them.

 

[Serban55]

They'll never catch up to Apple. Reason: the Apple M-series SoC's a highly optimized for MacOS, something that the Qualcomm ARM-based SoC's may not be able to do unless Windows 11 on ARM is written to take full advantage of the Qualcomm ARM design.

Totally agree....and to have desktop class gaming...when on windows 11 arm there are almost none "desktop games "

 

[dominiongamma]

Sounds like they are mad because they know Apple can do it better and they don’t need their business anymore

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Qualcomm is late to the party.

Haha! The competition is good but Good luck!

Apple silicon chip is just way too good. Real talk!

 

[BC2009]

So if Apple maintains the same lead on Qualcomm in with regard to PC/Mac chips that they do in the mobile arena, then they have nothing to worry about. Qualcomm chips powering Android phones are at least 2 to 3 years behind Apple in performance and Android phones only make up for it by providing obscene amounts of RAM on the high-end phones.

The advantage here for the consumer is that it will prevent Apple from resting on their laurels and holding back more powerful designs because they don't yet need them (much like Intel did with AMD years ago). You gotta have somebody at least chasing after Apple even if they are likely not going to catch them. I actually wish Apple had more competition in the tablet arena so iPad might got better faster.

The other disadvantage for PC's is that the operating system is coming from a different vendor than the SOC. When Apple needs to optimizing something, they just push it from software to hardware. For Microsoft and Qualcomm, that is going to be a negotiation with a slower turn-around time.

 

[Macalway]

Good for them. Give Apple a run for the money.

Before we just had Intel pretty much, and look what happened to them LOL

 

[BKDad]

So, their big innovation and business plan is based around a company they bought earlier this year. Now, imagine if they hadn't made that investment. Oops.

 

[torontotim]

if only apple paid their designers better to retain them.

People working at this level rarely leave because of compensation.

 

[julesme]

I've never tried out an ARM powered Surface (and for that matter, I don't own or use any Surface product). I'm curious if anyone who follows this closely believes that Qualcomm could potentially offer something competitive (i.e., fast/powerful performance) in a couple years?

While I don't see this as a near-term threat to Apple, I'm more interested in whether it could be a threat to x86 and Intel in a couple years, and take some Windows share from Intel in lower powered devices?

 

[blazerunner]

if only apple paid their designers better to retain them.

How do you think they got to being worth 2 trillion dollars?

 

[jz0309]

In reality they are competing with Intel and AMD, not Apple. If/when they get into Apple silicon performance territory, there is your chip for a Windows Arm computer, not that will be great! I really hope they succeed!
Competition is a great thing!

 

[ruka.snow]

This sounds fantastic. The PC industry really needs these “new” companies to shake up the industry. It’s been locked into slowly evolving AMD64 and X86 for far to long, we even had an entire decade of progress just stalled. I very much hope we get to a point where your computer of today can’t even dream of running your software in three years time.

 

[huge_apple_fangirl]

I'll believe it when I see it. Good for them to try, though. But no matter how good the chips are, it won't make a difference if Microsoft doesn't improve compatibility.

Given the state of Microsoft's current effort vis-a-vis ARM (no Visual Studio, etc.), I am not particularly confident.

 

[leman]

Keyword: "sustained performance and battery life". Translated - "we will have a lot of cores, each slower than M-series"

 

[huge_apple_fangirl]

Keyword: "sustained performance and battery life". Translated - "we will have a lot of cores, each slower than M-series"

They don't need to beat M-series. They are competing with Intel and AMD.

 

[il_teo77]

So, their big innovation and business plan is based around a company they bought earlier this year. Now, imagine if they hadn't made that investment. Oops.

Much like after Apple purchased PA Semi though

 

[A MacBook lover]

Good luck buddy

 

[philosopherdog]

i give them 5 years at least. also as long as windows is the os they will never do it.