this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2024
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The PC OEMs really, really, REALLY want to get back to the 90s and 2000s, when the six-month obsolescence cycle reigned supreme and you couldn't sit on the same Ivy Bridge machine for a decade.
That's a large part of the push behind NPUs and AI: it's the only way to get the cycle going again, because otherwise the PC OEMs are going to be looking at a market similar to automotive OEMs, mature, and where replacement happens at the customer's discretion instead of the market's.
Qualcomm lets them do this because ARM isn't anywhere near as open and standardized as x86, and Qualcomm can--and will--sunset platforms whenever it suits them, resulting in millions of machines getting boat-anchored.
(side note: Apple doesn't indulge in this despite selling ARM machines because Apple plays the long game, and would rather chase revenue from conquest sales than cannibalize their existing customers; it's remarkably long-term thinking from an erstwhile hardware company)
Apple's ARM machines aren't open either. Asahi Linux relies entirely on reverse engineering. Sure, you're right about Apple keeping operating system support up for a good while but if iOS is any indication, you can't expect to install the newest macOS on Apple M1 Macs in 10 years.