Qualcomm is a highly successful technology company, and the more so in 2013, when competitors such as Nvidia and Samsung struggle to offer a credible alternative to the Snapdragon series.
While virtually all major Android devices now run on Qualcomm processors, the upstart MediaTek made some good headway in the low-end to mid-range market. The Taiwanese company especially did well in China, where most low-end to mid-range Android devices ship with a MediaTek solution on board.
But MediaTek doesn't seem content with the scraps from Qualcomm's tablet – the company recently made waves teasing the world's "true octo-core" processor (Samsung might object to this claim though).
So, what does Qualcomm think about MediaTek's and Samsung's upcoming octo-core monsters? Not much apparently – the company' senior vice president Anand Chandrasekher told the Taiwanese media that slapping cores together is just a way to conceal poor engineering. Chandrasekher didn't mince words when describing the competitor's efforts:
You can't take eight lawnmower engines, put them together and now claim you have an eight-cylinder Ferrari.
When a journalist asked if Qualcomm would ever put out an octo-core chip, the exec went on to say that his company doesn't make "dumb things".
Of course, Chandrasekher's blunt statement doesn't mean that the chip giant won't ever make octo-core processors. In fact, we probably really shouldn't read much into it, besides a desire to put down blusterous competitors. After all, you might remember that Qualcomm had some similarly unflattering things to say when the first quad-core processors emerged.
In an official response cited by PCWorld, MediaTek responded to Chandrasekher's accusations by touting its other innovations in the industry and its great performance over the last months.
The question remains: do we really need octo-core processors?
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