With Qualcomm’s announcement of its Snapdragon 835 Mobile PC platform, the company is entering Intel’s CPU turf, where the world’s biggest chipmaker has held more than half of the market for more than three decades.

The new Snapdragon draws on ARM’s processor portfolio, fulfilling a plan that Microsoft announced for Windows 10 with Qualcomm at a Shenzhen, China event late last year. For the first time, Windows will work with all the usual apps, peripherals and enterprise capabilities on a mobile, power efficient, always-connected cellular PC, Microsoft said at the time.

Windows 10, released in 2015, introduces what Microsoft calls "universal apps" that can run on multiple Microsoft product families with nearly identical codež, including platforms such as PCs, tablets, smartphones, embedded systems and Xbox One.

While Qualcomm rolled out endorsements from a number of PC OEMs, including Asus and Lenovo at this week’s Computex show in Taipei, some analysts had reserved praise for the new Snapdragon chip.

“On paper, it's quite promising if it can really achieve such long battery life and always-on connectivity that x86-based systems might struggle with,” said Bryan Ma, vice president of devices research with market researcher IDC. “The trick, though, is in the emulation. I actually just got a demo this morning, and it was better than I thought it would be, but wasn't perfect.”

The Snapdragon 835 is a work in progress, Ma said, adding that he’s waiting for more test results after PC systems finally reach the market. It may still take as many as five years before there’s a noticeable impact on Intel from the Qualcomm chip, according to Ma.

In the meantime, Intel can count on strong OEM marketing programs that Qualcomm isn't accustomed to. Intel is likely to dominate the hardcore desktop space that Qualcomm isn't touching with this solution.

Even so, Qualcomm appears to be winning over OEMs with this latest effort that exploits Intel’s weakness in the mobile systems market.

"The PC ecosystem continues to evolve, and this evolution requires new innovations in an ever-increasing mobile computing world," said Jerry Shen, chief executive officer of Asus. "With the Snapdragon Mobile PC Platform powering our new lineup of Windows 10 devices, our users now can take advantage of new always on, always connected experiences available to them."

The world’s largest PC maker, Lenovo, also endorsed the new Qualcomm chip.

"We're excited to work with Microsoft and Qualcomm Technologies to bring a whole new class of devices to consumers that will change the future of personal computing," said Jeff Meredith, a Lenovo senior vice president.

The Snapdragon 835 SoC built into the Mobile PC Platform features the Qualcomm Kryo 280 CPU, the Adreno 540 GPU and the Hexagon 682 DSP to manage separate heterogenous workloads.

The 10nm Snapdragon 835 provides devices with superior thermal handling and greater power efficiency, enabling fanless designs with longer battery life, according to Qualcomm. With an integrated Snapdragon X16 Gigabit LTE modem, devices will be able to support peak download speeds of up to 1Gbps. The Snapdragon 835 Mobile PC Platform will also feature 2x2 802.11ac MU-MIMO for optimal Wi-Fi connectivity on the go, Qualcomm said.

The Qualcomm-Microsoft partnership widens a split between Intel and Microsoft, the two companies that have up to now dominated the PC business in what has come to be known as the Wintel alliance.

"We are thrilled that OEMs are sharing our vision to bring the Windows 10 experience to the ARM ecosystem, powered by Qualcomm Technologies," said Matt Barlow, corporate vice president of Windows marketing for Microsoft. "This collaboration offers consumers something new that they have been craving – the best of a mobile computing experience with the best of Windows 10, all in one thin, light, connected device."

By: DocMemory
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