Image: Mark Hachman / IDG
The biggest news at Computex is how Snapdragon chips are storming the beaches of the Windows-based PC market, spearheading Microsoft’s huge Copilot+ laptop push. We’ve seen Arm-based PC hardware before, but the designs have improved so much that they’re meeting and sometimes beating the Intel and AMD competition. Qualcomm’s CEO thinks they might be good enough to dominate, and do it very quickly.
Speaking to Tom’s Hardware, Cristiano Amon doubled down on bullish projections from Arm, the company that designs the architecture behind the chips in smartphones, tablets, most integrated electronics, and now, Macs and PCs. Amon said that he subscribed to the idea that Arm-based chips could take over 50 percent of the PC market within five years.
“Some OEMs are talking about 40 to 60 percent of their total sales within three years,” Amon said. “I also saw some OEMs talking about 50 percent, but those are the order of magnitudes. That’s kind of the opportunity that we have.”
Yesterday PCWorld’s Mark Hachman spoke with Arm CEO Rene Haas about Qualcomm’s designs for Arm Snapdragon chips, the rise of AI in consumer PCs, and how Apple pushed the industry to open up to Arm processors. For a more practical look at what an Arm-based Windows PC might mean for you, be sure to check out Gordon Ung’s analysis of benchmarks between laptops powered by Qualcomm, Apple, and Intel hardware.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer
Michael is a former graphic designer who’s been building and tweaking desktop computers for longer than he cares to admit. His interests include folk music, football, science fiction, and salsa verde, in no particular order.