I do not think it needs to trade blows on performance, just something that can be in the market nipping at the low-mid tier market is an improvement from the current conditions. We are currently in a market with 1.5 suppliers.
there are still plenty of arm models available. many of which are really just tablet hardware in a clamshell. which, so are many of the intel models if you look closely.
it isn’t so much intel occupying the low end laptop space, as commodity tablet hardware.