Intel is a name that everyone knows. Some people may not be aware that they know it, or why they know it, but Intel is very much a household name. When people go into stores to buy computers, the Intel logo is often a comfort that they are buying a quality product. They may not be aware of the difference between a Celeron and a Core i5, but that name stays with them through the experience.
The name became so powerful because Intel put themselves in the public eye. They ran endless commercials and advertisements, all for a technology that most people might as well look at as magic and a part that they will probably never even see. As smartphones grow to become more of a part of our day-to-day lives, the processor isn’t really something that the average consumer talks about. As technical people, we’re all over how many cores a phone has, the underlying architecture, and the graphics processor used, but I have yet to meet someone outside the tech world who really cares.
Now Qualcomm has stepped in with a plan to put their name in the minds of consumers everywhere.
For the mobile phone space, Qualcomm has been a leader for some time now. The original Snapdragon processor, seen in the Nexus One, was the first mobile processor to bring 1GHz of power to the table. After that, competitors like Samsung and Nvidia have repeatedly raised the stakes to see who could make the better processor. And it has been that way for the last two years.
For a little while, it really looked like Nvidia was going to step in and be a real power with their quad-core Tegra 3 chipsets. Their demonstration videos were very powerful and downright beautiful. As was demonstrated this week, however, when the Tegra 3-powered (UK-version) HTC One X was compared to the US One X with a dual-core Qualcomm S4 Snapdragon, it was clear that more cores alone do not make the chip.
For Qualcomm though, it is not enough for just the ultra-geeky in the crowd to know who they are and how they are outperforming the competition. They want to be like Intel — they want to put themselves in the public eye.
To do this, Qualcomm has broken the market into two areas of focus. For now, Qualcomm wants everything they produce to be marketed as either a Snapdragon or a Gobi. The Snapdragon processors, like the ones in our phones, will be the chips used in everything from low end phones to high end Windows 8 tablets, and everything in between. To help organize their Snapdragon lineup, everything will be placed in one of four categories, numerically labeled from S1 to S4. In this case, S4 would be the top of the line.
Everything else Qualcomm makes, like their connected chips for smart deadbolts, is labeled as a Gobi. This line is designed to symbolize that it is a connected device, and powered by Qualcomm. With these two focused brands Qualcomm hopes to take to the streets and let people know who they are.
The gamble here is whether or not people care what processor is in their phone and devices anymore. The “specs don’t matter” mantra is powerful right now, but is it really true? Apple took to the stage with the new iPad, their two biggest features were the Retina Display and the quad-core graphics processor. Instantly, the idea that a quad-core processor is something you should have was embedded in the minds of anyone looking for a reason to get an iPad.
Clearly, there are enough people out there that care about the processor, or what that processor is capable of, that there’s a place for that information in the eyes of the consumer. So, as Qualcomm begins a campaign of making the everyman aware that their products power the things they care about, will we see the same from Nvidia and Samsung?
Nvidia is no stranger to marketing, and their PC graphics cards have been plastered on every tech magazine that has ever been published it seems. When Qualcomm starts advertising, you can bet that Nvidia will join in right beside them. Besides all of that, Qualcomm is stepping into Intel territory by powering tablets, just as Intel is stepping into Qualcomm’s with phones. As these two companies begin to circle each other with products crossing into the strong suits of the other, marketing material on both sides might start to point crosshairs at each other.
We often look at the smartphone wars on a device level. The unit is a whole item in the eyes of most, mainly because the parts are not interchangeable. The idea that you would turn your nose up at a phone on your network because it is running a different processor than you prefer is probably not something most people are ready for yet. However, with regards to tablet purchases, especially Windows RT tablets, the processor running inside might become an extremely relevant factor in someone’s buying decision.
