Apple's M3 Chip And Qualcomm's X Elite Would Start Another Competition Between These Two

While Google and Microsoft's quarterly reports captured most of the market's attention last night, a hidden battle may actually be brewing in the world of computer chips.

 

On Tuesday, Apple suddenly announced plans to hold its second product launch event of the year on October 30th at 8 PM Eastern Time, and it is widely speculated that Apple will unveil a brand new Mac lineup at this event.

 

The name of this event is Scary Fast, partly in anticipation of the upcoming Halloween and partly believed to be a prelude to their next-generation M3 computer chip. This chip is expected to have better performance and faster speed than Apple's previous chips, and the all-new Mac lineup will serve as the stage for Apple to showcase the performance of this new self-designed chip.

 

 There have been rumors that Apple might unveil a 24-inch iMac and a new MacBook Pro at the event scheduled for next Monday evening. Renowned leakers and Apple analysts like Mark Gurman and Ming-Chi Kuo have also indicated that Apple will introduce a new MacBook Pro at the event next week.

 

Gurman even describes this event as a surprise because both he and Ming-Chi Kuo previously believed that Apple would wait until 2024 to update the Mac lineup. However, with Apple's official website featuring an animation of the Apple logo transforming into the Finder icon on a Mac computer as part of the event's teaser, it seems that the new Mac computers and M3 chip are all but confirmed.

 

Simultaneously, whether it is a coincidence or by design, Qualcomm also unveiled two chips designed for running artificial intelligence software and large language models on the same day, with one of them being the Snapdragon X Elite, which is intended for use in PCs and laptops.

 

Since the release of AI tools like ChatGPT at the end of 2022, both businesses and individuals have shown a keen interest in AI applications. Faced with AI applications that require high processing power, chips have become a battleground in the industry.

 

Qualcomm, certainly, won't miss this opportunity. During yesterday's presentation, Qualcomm claimed that their new Snapdragon chip offers faster processing power. It integrates an Oryon CPU as well as a graphics processing unit (GPU) and neural processing unit (NPU) for AI tasks, making it more efficient in executing artificial intelligence tasks. Additionally, it features dual processing cores that can run at up to 4.3GHz in short bursts.

 

Qualcomm believes that the performance of the Snapdragon X Elite can surpass similar chips from Intel and Apple, such as the M2 Max found in Apple's MacBook Pro lineup, while consuming less power. During the presentation, Qualcomm's CEO Cristiano Amon displayed a chart showing that Qualcomm's Oryon outperformed Apple's M2 and Intel's i9-13980HX chips in single-threaded CPU performance while reducing power consumption by 30% and 70%, respectively. Moreover, Oryon outperforms Apple's M2 chip by 50% in multi-threaded CPU performance.

 

The Oryon CPU is the new CPU leader in mobile computing. It's been designed by Qualcomm from the ground-up to have an unprecedented level of performance at extremely low power, said Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon on stage.

 

Furthermore, the Adreno GPU in the Snapdragon X Elite can provide up to 46 trillion graphics processing operations and support up to 120Hz HDR10 4K external displays, allowing for connection to three UHD or two 5K external monitors. Additionally, the new generation chip significantly reduces the time it takes to generate images, from 15 seconds to less than 1 second compared to last year's chips.

 

Qualcomm executives stated that laptops equipped with the X Elite chip will be available starting next year, making Qualcomm the first company to challenge Apple in the computer chip market.

 

Meanwhile, It's worth noting that when showcasing the performance difference between the Snapdragon X Elite and Apple's M2 chip, Qualcomm's CEO Amon saidThere's a new sheriff in town, revealing their ambitions to further capture the laptop chip market.

 

But, can Qualcomm win this time?

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