Qualcomm says it can lead Apple M1 on performance with 2023 laptop chip
Qualcomm isn't used to playing second fiddle in terms of performance
Apple’s move to its own Apple Silicon-based M1 chips made huge headlines this time last year. They performed incredibly well inside the 2020 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro – and that’s before you get to this year’s Pro models.
The performance gains were such that others making ARM-based PC processors – particularly Qualcomm – were left looking like they’d sat on their hands for several years. And that’s before you get to Intel…
Qualcomm isn’t used to playing second fiddle in terms of performance and now the company says it will introduce a new ARM-based platform in 2023 that will “set the performance benchmark for Windows PCs…for sustained performance and battery life”.
That’s strong talk – and we’ve had similar recently from Intel about its potential performance gains when it finally releases its much-delayed new chips next year as well.
Battery life was one of the key advantages of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon-based PC chips over Intel (plus integrated 5G) but Apple’s M1 ate that advantage, while its performance has been lacking, even within its performance-orientated 8cx chips.
Qualcomm also teamed up with Microsoft to produce the SQ1 and SQ2 chips for the Surface Pro X.
Qualcomm’s new chip will be designed by its Nuvia team, which it splashed out $1.4 billion on early in 2021. And yes, guess who Nuvia’s three founders used to work for… yes, Apple’s team who were working on Apple Silicon.
Qualcomm’s chief technology officer, Dr. James Thompson, made the announcement during Qualcomm’s Investor Day event.
Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief 
