Qualcomm not worried about mobile graphics competition

Thermal efficiency and form factor
Another factor Chandhok said was becoming increasingly important as phones become ever more powerful is having what he called a “superior michroarchitecture” to deliver thermal as well as power efficiency.

“It’s important to think about how you drive the form factor without having [the phone] melt,” he said, claiming that some of Qualcomm’s competition could quote fast clock speeds, but that these came at a high thermal cost that could result in a short lifespan of the phones.

“Don’t just think ‘how fast can this device run?’ but rather, ‘how long can this device run that fast?’,” he said noting that the performance needed to be sustainable.

Showing a slide of Qualcomm’s thermal efficiency compared with two competitors (we’re told unofficially that these are probably TI and Nvidia), Chandhok said the S4 was really a study in how to get the most power out of a processor while avoiding the detrimental effects of hotspots and overheating.


Giving a quick Windows phone update, Chandhok told press the operating system would make 2012/2013 really interesting years for the mobile device market, and said Microsoft had been able to take advantage of Qualcomm chips “in a way no other platform does.”

“They really squeeze out every drop of performance from our chip,” he said, noting that the Windows platform had a ton of features Qualcomm looked forward to leveraging.

Asked whether that meant the chip maker may be mulling more of a move into the computer and desktop space, however, Chandhok replied, “I don’t even know what desktop means anymore.”