Here’s how Qualcomm is planning to take on Apple M1, M2 processors

Qualcomm is reportedly working on a desktop chip to compete with Apple M1 and M2, the company’s in-house silicons. The chip is said to make its debut in 2024 and will have a 12-core CPU. Recently, Microsoft launched the Surface Pro 9 with SQ3 processor, which is a customised Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 SoC.

Citing his sources in the industry, developer Kuba Wojciechowski claimed that the PC processor which Qualcomm is working on has a codename “Hamoa” and offers “extremely promising” performance. The CPU is said to come with up to 12 in-house cores based on the Nuvia Phoenix CPU design. There will be eight performance cores and four efficiency ones, the developer says.

The processor is also said to have a similar memory cache configuration as M1 and comes with support for discrete GPUs. Furthermore, Wojciechowski notes that Qualcomm is also working on an eight-core processor with four performance and four efficiency cores.