Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon X Series, a new line Chipsets designed from the ground up for use in personal computers and that no one escapes, focuses on competition with Apple’s Macs. It means: with Windows installed and with the help of Microsoft and its partners.

To put the announcement in context, let’s say that Apple taught the rest of the industry a “lesson” by switching its hardware from Intel x86 to its own ARM design. It’s no secret that it could be “easier” due to his vast experience with this architecture and overall command of the platform and integration with the software. Still, it needs to be highlighted because no one else has achieved it at such a level.

It must be said that the idea of ​​bringing ARM to PC is not new and the most notable example was Microsoft, more than ten years ago with the Surface RT. It ended in disaster, but the idea lived on. Microsoft later merged with Qualcomm when creating the ‘Windows on ARM’ platform and that didn’t work either, although responsibility must be shared here. Nothing can be done without a competent system.

Snapdragon X Series, a new stage

Qualcomm cannot boast of previous attempts either. It’s the world’s largest supplier of third-party mobile chipsets, but what it’s released for PC so far hasn’t lived up to its task in terms of performance, and the promised power efficiency hasn’t lived up to its promise either.

If previous developments were variants of their smartphone products, the Snapdragon X Series promises something different. From what we know so far, they will use Qualcomm’s customized “Oryon” CPU cores rather than generic ARM designs.

Qualcomm assures that Oryon will offer “Quantum Leap in Performance and Energy Efficiency”, but we haven’t seen the real numbers yet, so it’s not clear how they will compete with the Apple M or x86 from Intel or AMD, as always powerful and increasingly efficient thanks to the hybrid design (especially Intel). They also promise “days” of autonomy, AI support with a dedicated NPU, and integrated support for 5G networks.

Is there reason to hope for more competition in PC chips? This time, yes. Qualcomm bought a startup specializing in this type of chip, founded by designers and engineers from Apple, Google, ARM, AMD and Broadcom. It looks like they’ve been working hard on this design for the last couple of years and we’ll see the results soon. Qualcomm will offer all the details at the end of the month at a special event.

And the software? Unknown. If Microsoft can’t make Windows that runs as well on the x86 architecture as it does on ARM and is able to run apps and games at the same level, we can forget about the Snapdragon X Series. The current range of x86 Windows PCs from Intel or AMD is huge and includes everything you’re looking for. And on the other side are Google Chromebooks.

We look forward to hearing more from Qualcomm. And from Microsoft.