Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon X2 Elite And X2 Elite Extreme Putting Intel And AMD On Alert

It’s been less than two years since Qualcomm announced its first chip for PCs and this year, at the Snapdragon Summit, it has further raised the bar. The company is back with the second generation of its PC platform,

introducing two versions: the Snapdragon X2 Elite and the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme. Both these chips will make it to Windows laptops, starting next year.Qualcomm has of course made big claims around the platform putting its rivals Intel and AMD in a corner. In its official announcement, Qualcomm describes the new chips as “the fastest and most efficient processors for Windows PCs.”Built on a 3nm process, the Snapdragon X2 family brings substantial performance and efficiency gains. Qualcomm says the CPUs can deliver up to 31 per cent higher performance at the same power compared to the original Snapdragon X Elite, or achieve the same performance while using 43 per cent less energy. Graphics get a boost too, with a new 1.85GHz Adreno GPU that offers up to 2.3x better performance per watt.“Snapdragon X2 Elite strengthens our leadership in the PC industry, providing legendary leaps in performance, AI processing and battery life to enable the experiences that consumers deserve,” said Kedar Kondap, SVP and GM of compute and gaming, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “We continue to push the boundaries of technological innovation, introduce breakthrough products that set new industry standards and redefine what’s possible for PCs.”

The CPUs are powered by 3rd-generation Oryon cores, the same architecture found in Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Elite 5 mobile chip. On laptops, that means up to 18 cores -- 12 running as high as 4.4GHz, and two cores capable of reaching 5GHz, which Qualcomm says is a first for an Arm-based PC processor.The chip offers 37 per cent more performance with 16 per cent better efficiency than the previous generation. Qualcomm is pitching the X2 Elite Extreme in particular as delivering up to 75 per cent faster CPU performance than competing processors at the same power levels, including the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H and AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370.There is also an increased focus on AI-related tasks. The new platform has an 80 TOPS Hexagon NPU, claimed to be the fastest in a laptop to date. Apart from this, Qualcomm has also focused on creators this year. The company cites tests showing 28% faster Photoshop editing, 43% quicker Lightroom exports and accelerated video analysis in Adobe Premiere. Along with this, Qualcomm has also unveiled its next generation mobile platform — Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which will power the next generation of Android flagship phones from key brands like Realme, Samsung, Xiaomi and others.