AI PCs take center stage as Europe’s biggest consumer electronics show kicks off in Berlin | Technology News

This year at IFA, the industry’s biggest names, including leading PC companies and chip makers such as Lenovo, Qualcomm, Intel, AMD, and Microsoft, have come together to compete for a stage to establish personal computers with artificial intelligence as the next big thing.

Intel kicked off IFA announcements with the launch of its next-gen processor, the Core Ultra 200V, formerly known as Lunar Lake. The company had fallen behind in the chip race in terms of power efficiency and battery life, as laptops powered by Qualcomm and AMD chips have shown significant improvements in these areas, putting pressure on the troubled chip maker. However, Intel claimed that its new Core Ultra Series 2 chips can match or surpass AMD and Qualcomm chips in nearly every metric. Lenovo, Acer, Dell, and other PC vendors have announced new laptops powered by Intel’s new chip.

Qualcomm’s Kedar Kondap on stage during a presentation on Lenovo and the chipmaker’s collaboration. (Image: Anuj Bhatia)

Qualcomm, the largest supplier of mobile chips, has been eyeing the PC market for a long time and has ramped up its challenge to Intel, AMD, and Apple with a new AI chip at IFA Berlin. Its Snapdragon X Plus 8-core processor, designed for PCs running Microsoft’s Windows operating system, promises to power AI processes while offering long battery life. The U.S. chip giant said the Snapdragon X Plus 8-core is designed for PCs costing as low as $700, as it looks to expand the market for AI PCs in a renewed push to grab market share from established players.

Experts point out that Qualcomm’s growing presence in the PC market is key to driving the adoption of AI PCs. The company is heavily leaning on “on-device AI,” where artificial intelligence applications are processed on the hardware itself rather than in the cloud. Qualcomm’s new PC processors share the same DNA as its smartphone chips.

An assortment of Lenovo PCs on display at IFA, Berlin. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Lenovo, the world’s largest PC vendor by volume, has a significant presence at the show, banking on AI PCs for growth in both established and emerging markets. It has teamed up with Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, and Microsoft to unveil the largest lineup of AI PCs. In collaboration with Intel, Lenovo announced its most advanced Copilot Plus laptops, dubbed the “Aura edition.” These laptops are not only super light with longer battery life but also feature new software capabilities. As a result of an exclusive partnership with Intel, they can quickly shift into various modes to optimize for specific tasks, such as safe internet browsing, better video call quality, distraction-free work, or “Smart Share” — which allows users to tap an iPhone or Android device to the laptop to share photos.

The Smart Share feature that allows users to tap an iPhone or Android smartphone on their laptops to share images being demonstrated on stage. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Lenovo is also showing off its Auto Twist AI PC, which has a motorised hinge and will transform between laptop and tablet modes with voice commands. The laptop can track your movements and rotate its display to face you as you walk around it, and it can transform itself into different modes in response to voice commands. Lenovo said it’s a proof of concept, and the company may or may not launch it commercially. Other brands—namely Acer—used the show to reveal Project DualPlay, a concept gaming laptop featuring a cutout beneath the keyboard to hold its custom gaming controller face-down.

(The writer is in Berlin attending IFA 2024 at the invitation of Lenovo)