Qualcomm And The Rise Of Non-X86 Windows

Intel is feeling the squeeze from its ARM rivals

For perhaps too long, Intel dominated the CPU market for Windows laptops and PCs. If you were buying or building a new computer, you’d almost certainly be slotting an Intel chip into the motherboard. But one company having such dominance isn’t a good thing. It restricts choice for consumers, and the market leader can get complacent.

Things are changing, however. A resurgent AMD is bringing the heat back to Intel with its Ryzen and Threadripper CPUs, and we’re also seeing the rise of non-x86 ARM processors. Usually found in mobile and embedded devices, a new generation of ARM processors is now powering laptops, lead by Qualcomm. With the likes of Microsoft and Lenovo supporting this new breed of laptop, it looks like the way we use those devices could change forever, and Intel needs to adapt—or die.

Qualcomm is a US company that used to be best known for creating telecommunication equipment. Its Snapdragon System on Chip (SoC) platform powered some of the most popular smartphones in the world. Part of the appeal of Snapdragon-powered smartphones was that, thanks to Qualcomm’s hardware, these devices could handle many tasks that we used to use computers for. Suddenly, we were checking emails, browsing the web, and posting cat pictures on social media using our smartphones. Laptops began to fall out of vogue.

For the past 40 years, laptops have pretty much kept the same form factor. Sure, 2-in-1 laptops with 360-degree hinges and removable keyboards (such as Lenovo’s Yoga series or Microsoft’s Surface Laptop respectively), offered slightly different spins on the tried-and-tested laptop design, but on the whole, laptops hadn’t changed much. You got a screen and keyboard in a clamshell design, and they were usually powered by Intel processors and integrated graphics. They became safe and boring, especially compared to high-end smartphones, and the laptop market declined accordingly.