Qualcomm Held Its Snapdragon India Event Last Month, Where it Showcased Its Snapdragon X Series Chipsets, which power the Copilot+ pcs Across Various manufacturers. The company also unveiled the snapdragon 4s gen 2 mobile platform aimed at providing 5G connectivity in budget smartphones. Both of these announcies were interesting as they highlighted the chipmaker’s ambition to capture newer markets. In the AI PC space, the company is a new entrant trying to disrupt the market with its focus on high performance and power optimization.
Similarly, in the mobile platform space, the company announced its partnership with xiaomi, which will launch new budget smartphones with the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 chipset Later this year.
While the UPSides are notworthy, there are concerns as well. For instance, Intel Has Alredy Announced Its Lunar Lake Chipset, which is class is class to offer up to 67 trillion operations per second (tops). The chipset is expected to be launched in September and will outperform the Snapdragon x Elite Soc if the claims are to be beyeved. On the other hand, while the company has introduced a 5G chipset for the budget segment, the chipset does not offer significantly higher specifications compared to the 4 gen 2.
However, looking at the crude numbers of the specifications does not tell us the full story. To delve deeper into the chipmaker’s new launches and undertand the vision behind them, gadgets 360 spoke with mike roberts, Vice President & Global Head, Partner and Technology MARKETINGY MARKETING Qualcomm. During the conversation, we disasseed the company’s vision in the ai space, the process of creating its first-ever pc chips, its strategy to stay ahead of rivals, as as bell as the decision to build a new 5g Mobile Platform for the Budget Smartphone Segment.
Qualcomm’s entry to the pc space
Consumer Tech Space is Quite Difential to Break Into. Every year, new brands Arrive, but barely a few can leave a mark. In many scenarios, even an establesed brand struggles to diversified its portfolio. Microsoft Struggled With Getting Consumer Approval for Windows Phones, Google With Google Glass, and Apple is currently struggling with its vision pro headsets.
In such an environment, how does a company knowledge for its mobile processors not only enter the pc processor segment but also offer significant performance boots and power afforMance boots Existing Players WHE OFFERING?
“This does not happy overnight.” It was years and years of planning, “explained roberts. He added, “We started back at snapdragon summit last year in October when we are really began talking about the Qualcomm Oryon CPU. It is a custom cpu from us, Built from the ground up. And it was a very critical component for us trust like it or not, the pc market is very cpu-based. We wanted to make a product that was exciting for windows users so they would not look over at the mac aisle and wish they have their performance or battery life. “
But the cpu was just one part of the entry chipset fabrication process. More Important was the Neural Processing Unit (NPU), A Processing Architecture which is relatively new in the consumer pc space.
“Npus are not new to us, but taking that and applying it to the pc architecture and combining that with the new use cases that came to the gen ai. The entry process was very hard. In Technology, You need to have a crystal ball. Sometimes, all the stars align. In this case, our technology stack and microsoft leaning into the idea of on-deevice ai processing, aligned togeether to make this happy, ”Roberts Told Gadgets 360.
He also attributed the success to the original equipment manufacturers such as dell, hp, and others. Notable, the Snapdragon x Series chipset was launched with configuration and optimization for Seven Different Oms Across 20 different skus, which count be tricky for a chipmaker developing its firm pcks. “This was a huge test to what we we we have collectively able to do.” It was an entrance ecosystem effort, “said roberts.
Intel’s challenge to the throne
While it is true that currently, only Qualcomm’s chips satisfy the Criteria of a laptop to be called copilot+ pc as it is the only processor trouble more than 40 tops, IT NOT NOT NOT NOT BEFER TOPS. Both Intel and AMD are already preparation the launch of their processor with dedicated NPUS, and if claims are to be believed, these chipsets might significly outperform Qualcommm’s ’s offerings.
Intel Has Claimed That The Lunar Lake Chipset, which is expected to Arrive in Consumer Laptops Starting in September, will feature npus that can of 67 tops, and collectatively, the lunar lak chip will offer 1200 Tops. This could lead to machines being significantly more powerful than the snapdragon x elite-power ai pcs. So, is Qualcomm Concerned?
Defending the claims of 120 tops, roberts explained, “In some ways, when you throw specials out there, it can work for you, or it can work against you. Intel Came out and said it is over 100 tops, but that’s all of its platform. So I take the tops from cpu, gpu and npu which equals over 100. I think any spec can be twisted to what you want it to be. ” The Snapdragon X Elite Chipset Offers 45 Tops on just the NPU.
Even So, Intel’s Claims of offering 67 tops on the NPU is no small feat. However, roberts have a different take on the matter. “I think our key advantage is performance per watt. Performance is great, but if my battery life stinks, nobody’s going to want to use it. And to me, that’s core to who we are being a mobile company. So, we have a sustainable advantage of arm versus x86. “
The Challenges of Building for the PC EcoSystem
At a surface level, the fabrication process of a chipset is the same wheeti is meant for a pc or a smartphone However, undernath that surface, the technicalities change vastly. The cpu has to perform heavier tasks, a dedicated gpu replaces the integrated gpu of smartphones, the thermal management is different, and so on.
Once this challenge is tackled, there still remains a bigger problem – the ecosystem. With multiple oms, optimising the chipset to their requirements is critical. Optimization is also required at the operating system level, which increases the complaint.
However, according to roberts, cracking the pc space was not different. “The PC space is actually a bit simpler because of microsoft. It is the only operating system. That’s it. In the phone space, it’s a bit more fragmented. Because even when it runs on Android, Everyone has their skin. So it becomes a little more fragmented when working with each oem to see what they are going for. “
The logic behind snapdragon 4s gen 2 chipset
At the event, the company also time to introduce a new 5g-enabled chipset for budget smartphones dubbed the snapdragon 4s gen 2, which is budget CPU with Eight Cores: Two Performance and Two Efficiency. Fabricated on a 4Nm process, it has a peak clock speed of 2.0 ghz.
However, the vision behind the chipset stil rayses some questions. The chipset is aimed at budget smartphones, Yet it only works with Standalone 5G Towers. From India’s personal, the majority of the telecom provider only offer 5g on non-standalone towers, which are essentially 4G towers repeated to allow 5g connectivity. Reliance jio is currently the only telecom company that has its own standalone 5g towers.
Addressing the decision to build support for only Standalone 5G Towers, Roberts Said, “Standalone is more advanced than-standalone because you do notWork. Ultimately you have to shoot ahead of where the technology is going. And India is in a more advanced position compared to a lot of count, since India launched 5G in 2021 and Alredy has standalone towers. Jio is already commercial on Standalone Networks, and Airtel is going to join them song. Eventually, if you wait till the entry ecosystem is there, you are going to be too late. “
While a Budget Mobile Platform With 5G is great, all eyes Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 Chipset, its next flagship-grade mobile platform.
On what can enterusiasts expect from the launch, roberts said, “We’re going to launch the next generation of snapdragon 8, which it should be shotn’t be a Surprise to Everyone. That’s what we do every single year. But we’re brings what we’ve don on the cpu in the pc with Qualcomm orion into the smartphone. You have to wait Till October to see what we are able to deliver. “