Qualcomm and MediaTek are both eager to compete with Apple’s M-series processors. Qualcomm, which has been in this field for longer and is more ambitious, announced its Oryon processor in 2022 as a competitor to Apple’s silicon. However, developing in-house cores is more difficult than it seems. Although Qualcomm dominates the 5G baseband market, it is rumored to be having problems developing its own Oryon cores, which could delay the launch of the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4.
Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 may face delay
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 is said to be available in three configurations. The most capable configuration will have a 12-core CPU, with eight performance cores and four power-efficiency cores. However, tipster @Tech_Reve says that Qualcomm is reportedly having problems developing the in-house cores for this chip. The tweet does not provide any details about the problems though.
This is not surprising, as other companies have also struggled to develop in-house cores. Samsung tried to compete with Apple’s M-series chips with its own Mongoose cores, but it eventually gave up and went back to using ARM designs. Google has also delayed its own custom chip by a year, and other companies like Xiaomi and OPPO have abandoned development altogether.
An early engineering sample of the chip suffered from performance issues in Geekbench 5, and there have been no follow-up results since then. This suggests that Qualcomm has been unable to fix the problems.
The Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 was originally scheduled to launch in 2023, but it may now be delayed until 2024. This is because Qualcomm may want to wait until after Apple releases its M3 chip. If Qualcomm sticks to its original launch timeline, it will be significantly behind Apple’s M1 and M2 chips.
Hopefully, Qualcomm will be able to iron out the problems with the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 before it launches. Otherwise, it could be a disappointment for the ARM-powered notebook space.
Related:
- Qualcomm to use TSMC’s N3E process next year alongside MediaTek, Won’t switch to Samsung
- Xiaomi 14 running MIUI 15 could be the first phone to use Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
- Qualcomm sets new world record for 5G speed with Snapdragon X75 modem at 7.5 Gbps
- Apple’s 3nm A17 Bionic beats Qualcomm’s 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy in alleged benchmark test
- Qualcomm might switch to TSMC & Samsung for next-gen chip, likely ditching Intel Foundry Services
(Via)
