Intel CEO claims high return rates for Qualcomm-powered AI PCs, Qualcomm disagrees

Laptops with Qualcomm processors don’t work as expected, Intel’s co-CEO claims.

Last week, Intel’s co-CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus made a critical comment about Arm-based AI laptops, drawing attention to some of the issues that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X line of processors is facing.

Speaking at the Barclays Technology Conference, the newly appointed co-CEO said that the major retailer's concern is the high return rates of the new Arm-based AI PCs. According to her, the new devices don’t work as expected.

Even though Holthaus made such claims without providing any evidence, they don’t seem far-fetched.

Qualcomm debuted its Snapdragon X and X Elite processors earlier this year with much fanfare. The company trumpeted its battery life and performance, highlighting advantages over Intel’s x86 architecture and Apple.

While Qualcomm’s latest attempt to make Windows on Arm looks promising, Arm-based laptops are still incompatible with many games and programs, including Adobe. In addition, many apps run programs via x86 emulation, which can cause software to work differently than intended.

However, Qualcomm doesn’t agree with Holthaus’s claims. In a response to CRN, a company representative said that the return rates of its laptops were “within the industry norm.”

The unnamed Qualcomm representative also told the publication that the company “expects 30% to 50% of laptops to move to non-x86 platforms” in the next five years.

The latest statistics by Canalys show that, in Q3, Qualcomm sold 720,000 Snapdragon X laptops, accounting for only around 0.8% of PCs sold in the quarter. While Qualcomm’s sales reportedly increased by 180%, the lion’s share of the market still belongs to Intel.

Holthaus made the comments about Qualcomm a few weeks after being appointed co-CEO along with David Zisner. They replaced Pat Gelsinger, who was ousted by the board.