The first batch of AI PCs equipped with Qualcomm chips will be delivered to consumers this week. Different from manufacturers and internet celebrities, consumers pay more attention to the issues that were not mentioned at the press conference. Unfortunately, last month Apple hurriedly launched a new M4 chip on the iPad Pro product line, which made Qualcomm's promotional advantages somewhat awkward.
According to Caixin on June 21 (Editor: Shi Zhengcheng), with the first batch of laptops equipped with Snapdragon X Elite officially entering the market in recent days, consumers can finally get their hands on the "AI PC" that has been relentlessly promoted since the end of last year. From initial reviews and market feedback,$Qualcomm (QCOM.US)$Attempts to overturn Apple in the field of Arm laptops have not yet received the expected praise.
As the hot topic of the 'AI PC' concept, Qualcomm has doubled its stock price in the past year. As of the close of the US stock market on Thursday, it fell more than 5% in a single day under the combined performance of its own bearish news and poor performance of the chip sector, almost erasing all the gains of this week.
Samsung's Galaxy Book4 Edge, equipped with the Snapdragon X Elite chip, was officially launched this Tuesday. Samsung immediately issued a notice that this new computer cannot run many mainstream software, including low-hardware requirement games such as 'League of Legends' and 'Fortnite', as well as many other games such as 'EA FC Online'. Although users who buy this type of notebook normally do not have high demands for gaming, many potential customers may remain on the sidelines as Adobe's various design software and local bank system antivirus software are also included in the incompatible list. Although Samsung has requested software developers to adapt, it is currently unclear whether the issue lies with the software developers or with Microsoft's Windows 11 Arm system compatibility.
Undoubtedly, software adaptation problems can be resolved by programmers, and the evaluation of the hardware part is more like plugging the company's deliberately 'hidden' parts in the PPT of the release conference. Although Samsung claims to have requested software developers to adapt, it is currently unclear whether the issue lies with the software developers or with Microsoft's Windows 11 Arm system compatibility.
Undoubtedly, software adaptation problems can be resolved by programmers, and the evaluation of the hardware part is more like plugging the company's deliberately 'hidden' parts in the PPT of the release conference.
Given that Qualcomm has been trying to show consumers the superiority of its Snapdragon X Elite chip over Apple at the launch conference, so investors are also focusing on the comparison of their run scores.
According to Geekbench data, the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 equipped with the Snapdragon X Elite chip has a single-core run score of 2837 and a multi-core score of 14,000. In comparison, Apple's entry-level M3 MacBook Air has a single-core run score exceeding 3000 and a multi-core score averaging almost 12,000. Although the Snapdragon X Elite chip has 12 cores while the M3 only has eight, its multi-core run score is only 20% lower.
Considering that most people are unlikely to use all the cores for daily office use, although both brands' computers can be described as smooth to use, a MacBook with an M3 chip may still run slightly faster.
Another AI PC's power consumption test shows that the power consumption of the Qualcomm chip is 14W when running single-threaded tasks, while the M3 chip is only 10W. Considering that the Snapdragon X Elite chip actually has multiple versions, and the tested X1E-78-100 is the lowest frequency version of the Snapdragon X Elite series without dual-core acceleration, the power consumption data for the other two stronger versions of the chip may differ.
With the release of run scores, the market suddenly understood why Apple inexplicably launched the M4 chip at the iPad launch event last month.
This 10-core chip embedded in the new iPad Pro has a single-core run score of over 3700 and a multi-core run score of up to 14,500, already surpassing the Snapdragon X Elite chip. The market generally expects that Mac computers equipped with the M4 chip will be launched later this year.
To be fair, Qualcomm's AI PC has clearly failed to achieve the grandiose slogan of 'surpassing Apple', but it will not change the significant milestone of the Snapdragon X Elite chip. The advent of this chip has significantly wiped out Apple's monopoly in the notebook field of 'performance + endurance'. For consumers, this also means more choices and greater efforts from major manufacturers to upgrade and replace.
Editor/Somer