MediaTek, do you even lift?
According to a Taiwan Media Roundtable transcript, discovered by IT World, Qualcomm has no interest, at least at the moment, in developing an octo-core processor. MediaTek, their competitor, recently unveiled an eight core ARM System on a Chip (SoC) which can be fully utilized. Most other mobile SoCs with eight cores function as a fast quad-core and a slower, but more efficient, quad-core processor with the most appropriate chosen for the task.
Anand Chandrasekher of Qualcomm believes it is desperation.
So, I go back to what I said: it's not about cores. When you can't engineer a product that meets the consumers' expectations, maybe that’s when you resort to simply throwing cores together. That is the equivalent of throwing spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks. That's a dumb way to do it and I think our engineers aren't dumb.
The moderator, clearly amused by the reaction, requested a firm clarification that Qualcomm will not launch an octo-core product. A firm, but not clear, response was given, "We don't do dumb things". Of course they would not commit to swearing off eight cores for all eternity, at some point they may find core count to be their bottleneck, but that is not the case for the moment. They will also not discuss whether bumping the clock rate is the best option or whether they should focus on graphics performance. He is just assured that they are focused on the best experience for whatever scenario each product is designed to solve.
And he is assured that Intel, his former employer, still cannot catch them. As we have discussed in the past: Intel is a company that will spend tens of billions of dollars, year over year, to out-research you if they genuinely want to play in your market. Even with his experience at Intel, he continues to take them lightly.
We don't see any impact from any of Intel's claims on current or future products. I think the results from empirical testers on our products that are currently shipping in the marketplace is very clear, and across a range of reviewers from Anandtech to Engadget, Qualcomm Snapdragon devices are winning both on experience as well as battery life. What our competitors are claiming are empty promises and is not having an impact on us.
Qualcomm has a definite lead, at the moment, and may very well keep ahead through Bay Trail. AMD, too, kept a lead throughout the entire Athlon 64 generation and believed they could beat anything Intel could develop. They were complacent, much as Qualcomm sounds currently, and when Intel caught up AMD could not float above the sheer volume of money trying to drown them.
Then again, even if you are complacent, you may still be the best. Maybe Intel will never get a Conroe moment against ARM.
Your thoughts?
Intel must deliver something
Intel must deliver something that is significantly faster, cheaper and more power efficient to stand a chance. They must deliver something clearly much better all around to justify the costs their prospective customers would incur for switching.
Until that happens, all talk of Intel in mobile it’s just ridiculous and boring chest pounding.
AMD should get some pointers
AMD should get some pointers from “Qualcomm” in how to develop a processor because Intel is buy far in the lead in PC desktops!!!
Qualcomm must know what they are saying, We as consumers will have to see, but for now it is “Qualcomm”!!!
Carmack said that the x86
Carmack said that the x86 architecture does not carry that much bloat relative to other instruction sets, as some people believe. He also said intel’s process tech is second to none and critical to the success of their chips. What I am saying is do not count intel out just yet.
Great CPU design will only
Great CPU design will only take you so far. In the end, a better process (smaller linewidth, etc) trumps design. With that observation in mind, who leads the world in process technology? Intel. It remains to be seen whether Intel’s 22nm cores can beat Qualcomm’s 28nm cores. More interesting: Intel’s 14nm process will begin sampling soon – what will it be capable of?
ARM has something that Intel
ARM has something that Intel doesn’t want to have, and that is ARM’s strength.
ARM will license out it’s tech, and let you build what you want, the way you want, with that tech. Intel will hand you a piece of hardware, and you can take what they want to sell you, the way they want to sell it to you.
In the hyper-competitive mobile device market, the more restrictive solution is going to have it’s lunch eaten by a less restrictive alternative.
Um, not sure this is valid
Um, not sure this is valid but If I was a foreign government and was concerned about the NSA having all my data I might use AMD or other none Intel chips because Intel is an American company. That could be a big market.
AMD is also
AMD is also American.
Qualcomm, too.
The USA is definitely not the only country doing this stuff… China and others were known.
And, while possible, I doubt we have to worry — at least much — about exploits baked into the silicon of computer hardware. Now there has been some times where certain routers have been known to ping China for no reason… but yeah.