It really depends. A cheap knife from ikea will not. But a powdered steel knife which is itself a luxury will definitely hold its edge better than carbon steel.
IKEA BRILJERA knives are the mid-range not cheapest ones. But they are not expensive.
But they are made from (The Chinese version of) VG10 steel, which will hold an edge very well, and is still stainless.
The simplest carbon steels can be made very hard with an appropriate heat treatment, if they have high carbon content, but then, as you say, they chip too easily.
The various kinds of alloyed steels that can be used instead of carbon steel attempt to improve the tradeoff between ductility and hardness, so that one may choose a heat treatment that results in greater hardness without making the blade as fragile as a blade made of carbon steel with the same hardness.
The alloyed steels made using powder metallurgy are said to achieve the best tradeoff between hardness and ductility, but I have not tested this yet, because they are also the most expensive.
In the past I have used softer German style steels, but I do not like having to sharpen them, so now I prefer to use only harder and sharper Japanese knives, which must be sharpened much less frequently.
For a little more, and a little more freehand style, you can try Spyderco's Sharpmaker [3]. My dad has one of these, and growing up he would sharpen kitchen and pocket knives to a razor edge very quickly with it.
I personally freehand sharpen my knives using Shapton stones [4]. I have the Kurumaku at 320, 1000, 2000, 5000, and 8000 grits, although the higher grits don't get used often; usually the 1000 grit alone is enough for getting a razor edge fairly quickly. I got mine from Amazon, but you can find them various places for $30-50 each.
[1] https://www.lansky.com/deluxe-5-stone-system.html [2] https://www.worksharptools.com/products/precision-adjust-kni... [3] https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=77 [4] https://shapton.co.jp/en/#products
To do it once and for all buy belt sharpener - Work Sharp with Blade Grinder Attachment being probably the best price vs quality vs functionality.
For quality sharpening that requires a bit of time buy rolling knife sharpener.
For quality sharpening which is fast and anyone can do buy electrical ChefMate with two slots and follow the instructions.
PS Do not bother with anything that requires clamping the knife, etc. You’ll use it once - it’s just too much hustle to setup and adjust these systems. You spend most of the time unpacking, bolting it together and then readjusting the knife instead of sharpening.
This is why rolling sharpeners work really well - fast magnetic attachment, angles are pre-set.
Once you can get a knife sharp with that it'll only take seconds to get it ready for normal use. The next step would probably be some kind of a strop/compound for removing the bur and polishing the edge. Doing so will improve edge retention substantially.
After that, it's like anything; you can get as far as you'd like into the hobby; but you'll already be able to slice off translucent tomato windows without squishing anything, so it starts mattering less for normal use, especially with the battering a knife can take in the kitchen.
Have a big enough collection of knives that you can take two out at a time, and bring them to a local, reputable sharpener (most shops that sell fancy/expensive/actual chef's knives will do this.).
If you want to get into sharpening as a hobby, then getting a couple of whetstones is probably the easiest recommendation; but I just never got good enough at it and the process never got fun.
I get the feeling that it becomes another aspect of a hobby for some; but I already make espresso at home, I have enough fiddly and frustrating kitchen hobbies.