They can compete in certain workloads. As a computational tool however, desktop Intel CPUs can be optimized far, far beyond the capabilities of any A-series CPU.
Don't forget that Intel CPUs have things that A CPUs are missing like QuickSync, AVX2, massive PCIe interconnectivity.
Whether the A-series CPU could be modified into something competitive on that front is yet to be seen. Whether this actually matters considering the state of our compilers and software development is yet another question.