Qualcomm’s first SoC based on Nuvia features 12-core CPU, performance results ‘very promising’, and claims state-of-the-art information

Qualcomm’s first Nuvia-based chip is Not scheduled to appear before 2024But that doesn’t mean the company isn’t busy running some extensive testing on this particular silicon. The latest information from unnamed sources claims a lot of positives about this obscure SoC while stating that it will have a 12-core CPU configuration.

The 12-core CPU configuration is broken down into performance cores and power efficiency, but strangely enough, information claims Qualcomm is running on a ‘desktop’ chip.

The first slide is based on the Nuvia Phoenix design and features the codename “Hamoa”. Qualcomm has already produced SoCs like the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 for use in Windows laptops, so we’re not sure why Kuba Wojciechowski announced this silicon as a desktop in this tweet below. Perhaps Qualcomm’s first Nuvia chip can be used in both machine classes, similar to what Apple did with the M1, first integrated into MacBooks, and then iMacs.

This ‘Hamoa’ appears to have similar memory and cache configuration to Apple’s M1 and has support for dedicated GPUs. Assuming that the first family of Nuvia chips under the Snapdragon brand appeared in laptops, these laptops might be able to connect to external GPU attachments using the Thunderbolt interface, something Apple doesn’t allow anymore in its MacBook range.

This chip will also have a 12-core CPU, with eight performance and four energy efficiency cores featuring a custom design, just like Apple. Wojciechowski’s sources told him these Nuvia SoC performance results are “very promising” but they didn’t excite us with some numbers, so we’ll have to treat this information with a pinch of salt. To remind you, Apple’s M1 Pro and M1 Max have more performance cores than efficiency cores, so it wouldn’t be uncommon for Qualcomm to stick with this configuration.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of information that we cannot access right now. For example, what manufacturing process does Qualcomm intend to use? This metric will affect battery life and will remain a solid base for customers to virtually abandon plans to buy tried and tested x86 laptops and spend money on something else. Also, “extremely promising” are two personal words and can mean something else entirely. How powerful is this Nuvia chip compared to the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 or the Apple M1 processor?

It looks like we’ll have answers to all of these questions and more in the coming months.

news source: Kuba Wojciechowski