Faced with Apple Silicon chips, Qualcomm wants to continue gaining in flexibility and performance. With its upcoming Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4, the firm would have enough to replicate in the laptop market… as well as the tablet market.
Qualcomm would not be intimidated by the lukewarm reception of the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 from its partners. The firm would thus prepare a Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4, strong enough to bring healthy competition to Apple… even in the tablet market. A potentially healthy prospect in a market dominated by the Cupertino giant’s slates.
In this case, the German site winfuture reports that Qualcomm’s new ARM chip, initially developed to power 13-inch or 14-inch ultraportable PCs, could also be installed in 10-inch tablets. always according to winfutureQualcomm would have started testing software in this direction in November 2022.
Android or Windows: the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 would be comfortable with both
Specifically, the idea would be to get a chip comfortable with both the Windows ecosystem and the Android environment, which would allow it to have one foot in the laptop market and another in the tablet market. Exactly like Apple and its M1 and M2 processors.
The fact is that, compared to Apple, Qualcomm will probably continue to suffer from the lack of performance of Windows for ARM and from the rather relative support of this architecture by the Microsoft software environment (despite the efforts of the brand). An Achilles heel that Apple does not suffer from, since the macOS ecosystem has been fully optimized to support ARM processors.
Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4: Qualcomm in Apple’s footsteps?
However, with its Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4, Qualcomm would have the idea of being able to release it in high-end devices, at first, and then repurposing it in the long term in 10-inch tablets, this time quite affordable. It would then be a matter of replicating Apple’s strategy, which installs its old-generation chips in entry-level and mid-range iPads, among others.
We will have to see what the Qualcomm chip has in store for us on a technical level. Previous rumors and leaks refer us to a SoC recorded in 4 nm by TSMC, capable of supporting the speed of 3 GHz (or less if used in a tablet). We would find there 12 CPU cores (8 high performance cores and 4 high energy efficient cores), an integrated modem that manages Wi-Fi 7 and 5G, a graphics circuit that allows you to manage a dedicated GPU if necessary and potentially a part integrated graphics designed by Nvidia. Logically, Nuvia’s skills will be in high demand to achieve a first ARM SoC capable of competing with the power of the M2 chips… or even M2 Pro according to some sources. The future will tell us how much.
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