OPINION: Back in 2021, Qualcomm acquired a company called Nuvia, formed of three former Apple employees who had worked on its mobile chips. Two years later, the acquisition might be bearing results.
Apple has been on a tear ever since it launched the M-series chips for Macs. Intel and AMD have tried their darndest to keep pace in terms of sheer power and have kept within touching distance while offering the benefit of wider access to gaming, but they are still leagues behind in terms of efficiency.
The remarkable feat of Apple Silicon chips is the ability to run nigh-on identically when not plugged into how they do when on battery, along with offering long battery life. No Intel and AMD chips have come close.
Enter Qualcomm Snapdragon X.
Snapdragon chips have always felt best placed to truly challenge Apple’s M-series. That’s not because of any performance prowess these components have displayed, so far the Snapdragon laptop chips have remained well behind most key rivals, especially in terms of performance.
But it’s because they use the same underlying traditional mobile phone-focused Arm technology. We’ve seen Intel try and fail with its attempt to go more mobile with Lakefield. AMD has continued to plug away on x86 chip innovation, and Intel has now returned to this formula – with big gains promised for its 14th Gen Meteor Lake chips.
It’s a more straightforward road for Snapdragon. Apple has managed to generate high-end performance from Arm chips so it’s not impossible to imagine Snapdragon X could do just this. It’s also not an unreasonable expectation given that’s what Qualcomm itself has touted for several years. Back in an interview with CNET in 2022, CEO Cristian Amon stated, “We’re aiming to have performance leadership in PC on the CPU, period.” That’s quite a claim and I’m especially sceptical given the lead Apple currently holds, but Amon did stress later in the interview that Snapdragon X chips stand out from its current PC range.
And, they are going to have to. Frankly, it’d be impressive if Snapdragon X chips were able to provide Windows laptops with close to Apple M2 of the MacBook Air capabilities, let alone shooting for the dizzy heights of an M2 Ultra chip. It seems unfathomable that the chips could reach as high as M2 Pro performance this first time around, but those are the very high aims that Qualcomm has.
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So, why is Qualcomm so bullish on Snapdragon X chips that have stemmed from the Nuvia acquisition? Well, it’s actually how these chips could depart from Arm designs that make them particularly interesting. Nuvia, rather than using Arm Cortex cores like current Snapdragon chips, has designed its own “Oryon” CPUs – a point of controversy that has led Arm to sue Qualcomm (via The Verge) and may put a spanner in the works.
5G could be key
As such, like Apple, Qualcomm is aiming to build its own chips from the ground up and we’ve seen the success this can lead to with the entire Apple Silicon range. Snapdragon X chips will also immediately have something that no Apple Macs currently offer, and that’s 5G.
5G has long been a key push of Qualcomm’s – not surprising given its mobile manufacturer chops. It’s sure to be present on the first-generation Snapdragon X chips as it has been with previous Qualcomm PC platforms, adding a level of connectivity many laptops still lack.
Ultimately, I’m hugely excited about the prospect of more efficient chips coming to Windows (and, not forgetting, ChromeOS) laptops. Ever since the launch of the Apple M-series, it has been something that non-MacOS machines just haven’t been able to compete on.
However, it must be caveated with two important factors. Qualcomm has made big claims about its ambitions for Snapdragon X but it’s yet to get more specific, so they have to be taken with a pinch of salt. Second, what could this mean for Windows PC gaming? It still remains the operating system champ in that department but chips based on the Arm architecture aren’t yet there in terms of gaming, despite advances from Apple and Qualcomm respectively.
Regardless, if Snapdragon X chips can offer that longer battery life and portable performance that current non-MacBook users look across the aisle in envy at, it’ll be a new dawn in the laptop market.
Ctrl+Alt+Del is our weekly computing-focused opinion column where we delve deeper into the world of computers, laptops, components, peripherals and more. Find it on Trusted Reviews every Saturday afternoon.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
