Qualcomm's Fighting Words for the Surface 2

By Erin Kennedy and Evan Niu, CFA – Oct 28, 2013 at 7:30PM

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Though Qualcomm has long been the exclusive chip supplier for Windows phones, it's now criticizing Microsoft's new Surface 2. Who put a bee in Qualcomm's bonnet?

Several Qualcomm (QCOM 1.53%) execs are knocking Microsoft's (MSFT 2.64%) new Surface 2 tablet. Qualcomm claims Nokia's Lumia 2520 Windows tablet outperforms the Surface 2 in several meaningful ways, including speed and power efficiency. Why would Qualcomm criticize the Microsoft Surface 2 tablet? Because it's running NVIDIA's (NVDA 5.99%) competing Tegra 4 chip.

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 powers the Lumia 2520. This year has seen major changes in the tablet chip space, with Qualcomm beginning to get traction in tablets at NVIDIA's expense, gaining a spot the new Kindle Fire HDX model as well as the Nexus 7.

In this segment of Tech Teardown, Erin Kennedy discusses Qualcomm and NVIDIA's chipmaking competition with Evan Niu, CFA, our tech and telecom bureau chief.

Erin Kennedy has no position in any stocks mentioned. Evan Niu, CFA, owns shares of Qualcomm. The Motley Fool recommends NVIDIA. The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft and Qualcomm. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.