For our second keynote of the day for Computex, we have the 4th Musketeer of the great PC powers, Qualcomm. Slated to be the most PC-focused of the four keynotes, company CEO Cristiano Amon will be presenting a keynote entitled “The PC Reborn.” And while Amon is no stranger to giving keynotes, this is slated to be his most PC-centric keynote yet, giving Computex attendees a clearer idea of how focused Qualcomm will be on the PC market with their new Windows-on-Arm SoCs.
The big focus for today’s keynote is expected to be the Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus SoCs, which Qualcomm announced over half a year ago, and has been touting ever since. Now, the first consumer devices based on these chips are just a couple of weeks away from shipping, so Qualcomm is in their final promotional push for their new Windows-on-Arm platform. As a result, Qualcomm should have a lot more hardware to show off, with final silicon and shipping SKUs already defined.
While Snapdragon X is not Qualcomm’s first effort to ship an Arm-based SoC for Windows devices – there are 3 generations of 8cx Gen 3 platforms that everyone is happy never to mention again – the Snapdragon X is Qualcomm’s most serious effort yet. At its core is the new, high-performance/high-efficiency Oryon CPU core, which combined with the rest of Qualcomm’s tried-and-true mobile hardware experience, the company is hoping to mold into a revolutionary Arm-based SoC for Windows laptops. The company is also counting on a decade of software development on Microsoft’s part to make the Windows-on-Arm ecosystem whole, not to mention as frictionless as possible.
Besides energy efficiency, Qualcomm’s other big push is on the burgeoning field of NPUs. The Snapdragon X NPU is rated to deliver 45 TOPS of INT8 performance, which makes it the first PC NPU to meet Microsoft’s hardware requirement for Windows 11 Copilot+ AI functionality. So Qualcomm is looking to leverage this time-limited opportunity to be the first to offer new functionality in the Windows space – a privilege normally reserved for Intel or AMD.
01:30AM EDT – The Qualcomm Computex 2024 keynote is about to begin. The company has 15 PCs running Windows on the display.
01:32AM EDT – The show begins with a recap of what Qualcomm is: a maker of SoCs for smartphones. Which is of course expanding its business with PC processors.
01:33AM EDT – Qualcomm is demonstrating a funny video with a laptop that runs out of battery. Well, the company is implying that Snapdragon Elite-based PCs will last much longer.
01:33AM EDT – Cristiano Amon is entering the stage.
01:34AM EDT – Apparently, this is Cristiano’s first Computex keynote.
01:34AM EDT – I guess, with Snapdragon processors for PCs, Qualcomm will have to do many more keynotes at Computex.
01:35AM EDT – Qualcomm is changing from ‘communication company’ to a ‘leader in compute’, connected compute, of course.
01:37AM EDT – Qualcomm’s chief executive says that the company is redefining PCs in terms of what is possible in productivity, creativity, and entertainment.
01:38AM EDT – AI is one of the key focuses of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Elite X, so the company is highlighting this fact.
01:39AM EDT – The Snapdragon X Elite is ‘built for the new generation’ of PCs that will adapt to its user providing ultimate personalization.
01:40AM EDT – AI promises to transform interface and workflows and do a lot of other things that fundamentally change PC experience.
01:41AM EDT – Amon says Snapdragon Elite X processors will enable PCs with ‘multiple’ days battery life.
01:41AM EDT – Apparently, there are 16 PCs based on Snapdragon X Elite SoCs in the first wave.
01:42AM EDT – Also, desktops and tablets with Snapdragon are incoming.
01:43AM EDT – Windows with Snapdragon is a platform where innovation is happening, says Cristiano Amon.
01:44AM EDT – Satya Nadello video is now playing. Of course, he is talking about Copilot+ PCs. He says over 20 Snapdragon-powered PCs are incoming. Quite a significant number of design wins, I would say.
01:45AM EDT – Now, Amon is talking about generative AI revolution.
01:46AM EDT – AI is poised to become indispensable from modern PCs.
01:47AM EDT – Qualcomm is showing a video how a Snapdragon-based PC can make negotiations using AI.
01:48AM EDT – Or translate different languages in real time.
01:49AM EDT – Windows Copilot+ PCs are the fastest Windows PCs ever, according to Amon. Of course, when it comes to AI.
01:50AM EDT – Qualcomm focuses on the Hexagon NPU and its capabilities. AI should run all the time all day long,
01:51AM EDT – Qualcomm’s Hexagon NPU not only delivers 45 INT8 TOPS performance, but does it very power efficient.
01:52AM EDT – Hexagon NPU is 2.6X more power efficient than Apple’s M3 and 5.4X more power efficient than Core Ultra 7.
01:52AM EDT – A thermal image demonstrated by Qualcomm confirms this to a certain degree.
01:53AM EDT – Microsoft and Qualcomm worked as one team to deliver the new Windows platform, Amon says.
01:54AM EDT – ‘A great moment for Microsoft and Windows,’ says Amon,
01:55AM EDT – Now, a Microsoft rep says that the company has redesigned Windows to take advantage of the Snapdragon X Elite.
01:59AM EDT – Microsoft of course had to build a new ecosystem to make software for Windows Copilot+ PCs to take advantage of advanced AI capabilities of Snapdragon X Elite and other CPUs with an NPU inside.
02:00AM EDT – Apparently, Amon is wearing Copilot+… shoes.
02:00AM EDT – Time to talk about Oryon CPUs.
02:01AM EDT – These CPUs are 51% faster than competing processors.
02:01AM EDT – That was signle threaded performance.
02:02AM EDT – In multi-threaded workflows Snapdragon X Elite is 28% faster than an undisclosed competitor.
02:03AM EDT – S.Y. Hsu from Asus is on the stage to talk about the company’s PCs with Qualcomm inside.
02:03AM EDT – Asus of course has collaborated with Qualcomm for years as it uses Snapdragon for its smartphones.
02:04AM EDT – The very first Asus PC with the Snapdragon X Elite is said to feature a 18 hours of battery life for productivity applications.
02:05AM EDT – Apparently, Asus systems with Snapdragon X Elite will come with Asus exclusive apps.
02:06AM EDT – Back to Qualcomm. Time to talk about battery life.
02:07AM EDT – Snapdragon X Elite PCs will have two times longer battery life than a Core Ultra 7 155H, according to Qualcomm.
02:08AM EDT – Now, Jason Chen, CEO of Acer is on the stage.
02:09AM EDT – Acer also has a long history with Qualcomm. But the company is particularly exciting to offer PCs featuring Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite.
02:09AM EDT – Acer’s first Qualcomm-based PC — the Swift 14 AI — will offer 26 hours of video playback.
02:10AM EDT – Interestingly, Acer will also offer its ‘AI apps’ with its Snapdragon-based PCs.
02:11AM EDT – Back to Qualcomm. The company says that has worked hard to ensure that Windows apps run natively on its Arm-based Snapdragon X Elite processors.
02:12AM EDT – There are dozens of apps that will run natively, according to Qualcomm.
02:12AM EDT – Both Edge and Chrome browsers will work significantly faster on Snapdragon X Elite compared to AMD and Intel CPUs.
02:14AM EDT – Now, Qualcomm is demonstrating how djay Pro can isolate noises using Snapdragon’s NPU.
02:15AM EDT – Enrique Lores, chief executive of HP, is on stage,
02:17AM EDT – He is also exciting to work with Qualcomm on Snapdragon X Elite-powered PCs.
02:18AM EDT – HP’s OmniBook and EliteBook with Qualcomm inside are coming.
02:19AM EDT – Lores is showing one of the first PCs with Snapdragon X Elite.
02:21AM EDT – Time to take a photo with a Snapdragon-based PC.
02:21AM EDT – Back to Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon. He is now talking about creativity apps accelerated with NPU.
02:23AM EDT – DaVinci Resolve with Snapdragon X Elite apparently offers 3X higher performance than Intel’s Core Ultra 7 155H in certain workloads.
02:24AM EDT – Samsung is also excited to work with Qualcomm on Windows Copilot+ PCs.
02:25AM EDT – Hexagon NPU and Oryon CPU set the new standard for performance and efficiency, the Samsung representative says,
02:27AM EDT – Qualcomm says that its AI Hub has over 100 pre-optimized AI models ready to be deployed.
02:27AM EDT – These models can be used to develop AI-enabled applications that will take advantage of Qualcomm’s NPU.
02:28AM EDT – According to Cephable, Snapdragon NPU can offer higher performance than Apple’s M3 and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3070 Ti.
02:30AM EDT – Qualcomm will also release Snapdragon Development Kit for Windows mini PC that will be available for pre-order later this month.
02:31AM EDT – Sam Burd, the head of Dell’s client busines is on stage.
02:31AM EDT – AI-enabled PCs will revolutionize user experience, he says.
02:32AM EDT – Dell will have as many as five PCs with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite systems.
02:34AM EDT – XPS 13 can run a Lllama 13B model on the device.
02:36AM EDT – One more thing… Qualcomm PCs will feature all the features of mobile Snapdragon processors, such as security, loseless audio support, chip-to-cloud security and more.
02:37AM EDT – Also, 1200+ games were tested and optimized for Snapdragon E Elite to provide decent performance and flawless experience.
02:38AM EDT – He implies that AI and NPU can also be used for games. For example, for NPCs.
02:39AM EDT – A Lenovo representative is also here to talk about the company’s Snapdragon X Elite PCs.
02:40AM EDT – Lenovo will offer two Snapdragon X Elite PCs: the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 and the Yoga Slim 7x.
02:41AM EDT – Lenovo’s Snapdragon-based PCs will come with Lenovo-exclusive applications too.
02:42AM EDT – For example, the Lenovo AI Now.
02:42AM EDT – And the Lenovo Creator Zone generative AI application that runs locally on device.
02:44AM EDT – The Lenovo rep compares transition to AI-enabled PCs to transition from feature phones to smartphones.
02:44AM EDT – That’s it for Qualcomm’s announcements for today.
02:46AM EDT – The first Snapdragon X Elite PCs will be available globally on June 18, but we already know this.
02:47AM EDT – These systems can be pre-ordered today.
02:48AM EDT – That’s it for our live blog of Qualcomm’s Computex 2024 keynote. Thank you for being with us.
02:48AM EDT – And that’s a wrap!