Microsoft is preparing to announce the first PCs to feature the all-new Snapdragon X Elite chip, Qualcomm’s answer to Apple Silicon. The manufacturer seems confident in the ability of its computers to outperform Apple’s MacBooks… for the moment.
Tension is rising as the first laptops integrating the highly anticipated Snapdragon X Elite chip from Qualcomm approach. Its arrival should mark the return to favor of the ARM architecture on Windows after years of wandering.
Microsoft seems to be betting big on Qualcomm’s new proposal which could finally compete with Apple on its territory.
Apple Silicon in the crosshairs
Announced last year, Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X Elite platform will be present in many laptop PCs by this summer. Microsoft will also be one of the first manufacturers to reveal a product integrating the chip during its Surface event on May 20, according to recent leaks from Windows Central.
This time it’s the site The Verge who goes about his little indiscretions, affirming according to his sources that Microsoft would be confident in the power of these future portable PCs, which should exceed “Apple’s MacBook Air M3 in terms of both processor performance and AI-accelerated tasks“. It is on this last point that the chip impressed us during our handling in London last February.
Because this is the emphasis placed by Qualcomm in all its tests communicated to the press in recent months, even declaring that PC games should run without problem. According to information from journalist Tom Warren, AI PCs running Windows will offer “faster application emulation than Rosetta 2», Apple’s solution for running x86 applications on its own ARM chips.
However, Apple is expected to counterattack with its next M4 chips which should arrive at the earliest at the end of 2024 on its MacBooks, but more likely in the first half of 2025.
PCs designed for Windows Copilot
Microsoft would describe devices running on the new Qualcomm chip as “Next Generation Copilot AI PC“, the preferred platform for the entire suite of tools that Windows should deploy with its next 24H2 version expected in the second half of 2024.
On the program, we expect the very classic tools for background blurring in videoconferencing, background noise reduction, but also image generation in Paint. Microsoft also plans to introduce a brand new AI Explorer which will allow you to access an exhaustive history of all your actions on your PC, whether they are files opened or any action carried out over a period of time. given.
Microsoft is expected to announce two machines in May that can be configured with the Snapdragon X Elite chip: the Surface Pro 10 and the Surface Laptop 6. Other machines will follow the trend by early summer, including Acer, Lenovo , Asus, HP, Dell, Honor, Samsung and Xiaomi.