Qualcomm has bullied Intel with Win 10, so Intel really doesn't plan to fight back?
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On December 8, at the Windows Hardware Engineering Industry Innovation Summit WinHEC held in Shenzhen, China, software giant Microsoft announced that it will cooperate with QTI (Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.), a subsidiary of mobile chip giant Qualcomm, to jointly build an ARM-based Windows 10 ecosystem. The fastest next-generation mobile computing terminals using Qualcomm Snapdragon processors will support the Windows 10 operating system. Both Microsoft and Qualcomm believe that the dual-core cooperation will help meet the needs of users to create anytime and anywhere, thus bringing unprecedented "mobile, energy-efficient, and always connected to cellular" powerful PC terminals. Qualcomm-based Windows devices will be launched next year . Historically, one of Intel's main competitive advantages is that almost all computers running Microsoft's Windows operating system in the entire computer market are equipped with Intel processors, and the applications and software on the Windows system are also almost natively developed based on the architecture of Intel processors. However, this time Microsoft made a change and considered running the Windows system on the ARM-based Qualcomm processor and running Intel chip architecture applications on ARM devices through the "magic simulation technology" processed by software. Although everyone doubts the performance of the simulator, Microsoft boasted at WinHEC that the simulator is highly compatible and the performance of the Qualcomm processor can ensure smooth operation. For example, Microsoft did not make any adjustments or optimizations to Photoshop, but it can be opened and run directly, and all functions have not been reduced. Microsoft said that many Win32 desktop applications based on the x86 architecture have the same results when running on Qualcomm devices, including Microsoft Office and popular Windows games. Qualcomm recently said, "The first batch of PC products based on Snapdragon processors supporting Windows 10 are expected to be available as early as next year." Although Qualcomm's Windows 10 PC products have not yet been released, no one knows what their actual performance and experience are like, but at the same conference, Intel, which is also the protagonist, was left out. I wonder how Intel feels. Of course, such entry-level products will not have a significant impact on Intel normally, but just as the mobile phone market went from being ignored to being forced to withdraw, should Intel pay attention to it? After all, this time it is directly the PC market, Intel's main battlefield. So, facing the situation where a long-term ally is so close to the enemy, does Intel really have nothing to do about ARM chip-based PCs? Accelerate architectural innovation In September this year, Intel officially launched the new seventh-generation Kaby Lake microarchitecture Core processor products, and the ultra-low power consumption low-voltage version was quickly distributed. Intel said that the new breakthrough of PC is in this generation, mainly because the new processor is more suitable for 2-in-1 computers and notebooks. Intel's engineering and manufacturing teams have taken advantage of a technology called "14nm" to further improve the 14nm process technology, providing better performance and energy efficiency than the previous generation launched a year ago. However, the biggest breakthrough of Intel's seventh-generation Core processors is actually the improvement of the media engine, which enhances the support for 4K UHD content and can now easily decode HEVC 10-bit and VP9 encoded video premium content. For example, users can watch 4K UHD content directly on the website, or edit multiple 4K UHD videos into a video collection in 4 minutes. These tasks can provide a very smooth and low-power experience through hardware acceleration, and mobile products equipped with seventh-generation Core processors can watch 4K video for up to 9.5 hours of battery life. Apart from this process and media engine, Intel's seventh-generation Core processors have few improvements and it is difficult to call it an all-round improvement because its CPU core, graphics processing unit, image signal processing unit and memory controller remain unchanged from the previous generation. In contrast, Qualcomm not only provides comprehensive architectural improvements and enhancements to the processor core every year, but also quickly adopts the latest process technology from chip foundries. Although with the help of Intel's 14nm process, a fully functional PC design based on the seventh-generation chip can be thinner than a mobile phone, Intel needs to speed up its pace, especially in improving the performance and functions of the ultra-low-power chip core architecture, at least in terms of innovation rhythm, not lagging behind ARM mobile processors, otherwise it will face the attack of low-end Qualcomm ARM chips and high-end AMD Zen. Higher chip integration It is undeniable that Qualcomm's processors are significantly more integrated than Intel's mobile processors, because Intel has not yet successfully created a true SoC single-chip solution. Or it can be said that Intel processors are more like a large chip that packages multiple small modules together, even the latest and already small Kaby Lake-Y seventh-generation Core chip. Take a look at the picture. First, in the first part on the left, some core performance components must be included, such as the CPU core, graphics processor unit and memory controller, which are mainly responsible for the heavy work tasks. The area occupied by this part using Intel's latest process packaging is still very large. Then the second part on the right will include many platform controllers (PCHs), which are key I/O technologies, such as USB, PCIe and SATA connections, as well as audio processing, but most of this part is still based on Intel's older process. It is also worth mentioning that if a PC mobile product based on an Intel processor requires communication functions, it can only weld an independent cellular modem on the motherboard. In contrast, Qualcomm's chip integrates almost everything mentioned above into a SoC system-level single chip, including CPU, GPU, DSP, ISP, cellular baseband module and wireless module. The integrated chip is quite small in size, and it is easier for manufacturers to design lighter and more portable mobile devices, and it is conducive to deep optimization of hardware and software, making single-chip products more efficient and less costly. Intel must come up with an effective solution to achieve low-power single-chip and integrate the two major parts together as soon as possible to make the size of the chip smaller after packaging. In addition, Intel needs to further improve communication connection technology, such as the integration of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and even cellular modems. Only when all these things are packaged in a single chip can the revolution of ultra-low power chips be considered a success. To put it simply, the improvement of chip integration will help product manufacturers further simplify the design of finished products, because a lot of things that are densely packed on the motherboard can be removed, making the motherboard simpler and thinner, and the finished product will naturally be lighter and thinner. Moreover, the saved space can also be used to cram in other meaningful components, such as larger capacity batteries. Cannon Lake may be the beginning of Intel's counterattack . At the end of next year, Intel will launch its first processor using the latest 10nm process, called Cannon Lake. As for low-power mobile chips, since this generation of Kaby Lake-Y is more integrated than Skylake-Y, I believe that Intel can come up with a more comprehensive integration solution in Cannon Lake-Y. After all, Kaby Lake to Skylake are still 14nm, while Cannon Lake is a new generation of 10nm process. In short, a more deeply integrated single-chip solution is Intel's most clear direction of progress at present. If Cannon Lake can really make a groundbreaking improvement, Intel's threat in the mobile field will be further reduced, and it will be more conducive to manufacturers to directly adopt Intel's complete solution in the future. Of course, according to Intel's pace of squeezing toothpaste, Cannon Lake may just be the beginning.As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity. |
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