Last year, after much hard work, Qualcomm finally succeeded. Its chips made Windows on Arm laptops a real contender, shaking up Intel and AMD’s long-held dominance, and even removing Intel from the consumer-grade Microsoft Surface lineup. Now, we’re getting our first glimpse of the next generation: the Snapdragon X2 series, which will come in two different variants—the Snapdragon X2 Elite and the more powerful Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme.
Qualcomm isn’t mincing words. The title of its press release boldly claims these are going to be the fastest and most breakthrough processors for Windows PCs. I can almost hear the engineers at Intel and AMD sharply refuting this!
So, what’s behind this bold claim? The new chips are built on a 3nm process, and Qualcomm says they represent a significant leap forward compared to the previous generation. Qualcomm promises up to 31% faster CPU performance at the same power level, or the same performance at 43% less power. The new 1.85GHz GPU delivers up to 2.3 times better performance per watt.
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At the heart of this CPU is the third-generation Orion core, which will also power Qualcomm’s new flagship mobile chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 5. In the laptop version, this CPU can be configured with up to 18 cores. Twelve of these cores will run at speeds up to 4.4GHz, with one or two “extreme” cores reaching a peak clock speed of 5GHz—a milestone for an Arm-based laptop processor.
Of course, no modern chip is complete without a powerful NPU for AI tasks. The new Hexagon NPU boasts 80 TOPS, delivering 37% more performance and 16% more energy-saving. Qualcomm is confidently claiming that this is the fastest NPU in any laptop yet.
The company is calling it a major performance breakthrough, claiming that the Elite Extreme Edition, in particular, offers “up to 75 percent faster CPU performance” compared to similarly powered competing chips. While the press release doesn’t mention names, the graphs show that Qualcomm is comparing its chips to high-end chipsets like the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H and AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, with higher-power models. However, it’s worth noting that these comparison graphs don’t have labels on the axes, so we’ll have to wait for independent testing to confirm these claims.
🌟 Benefits of Snapdragon X2 Elite
âš¡ Performance
Groundbreaking performance with expanded memory cache & powerful graphics per watt for maximum productivity and speed.
🔋 Battery Life
Enjoy multi-day battery backup with an efficient design that optimizes workloads for gaming, work, and streaming.
🤖 AI
Powered by Hexagon NPU, it delivers next-level AI experiences with faster responsiveness & low latency.
🔒 Security
Stay safe with advanced security features that protect your data from power-on to shutdown.
📶 Connectivity
Get ultra-fast connections anywhere with 5G, Wi-Fi 7 & Bluetooth® 5.4 support.
Check Variants of the new Qualcomm Snapdragon ChipsetsÂ
Qualcomm also promises that these efficiency increases will translate into “multiple days of battery life.” The same promise was made last year, and we saw laptops deliver strong performance, lasting 14 to 18 hours—technically, two light workdays. This generation aims to take that even further.
There are also some specific improvements for creators and gamers. A new dedicated 18MB cache called “Adreno High Performance Memory” is designed to boost gaming on ARM. For Adobe users, Qualcomm promises significant speed increases: 28% faster photo editing in Photoshop and 43% faster exports from Lightroom.
An interesting note is that Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan announced that Razer’s Synapse software is coming to Windows on Snapdragon. However, he did not announce any plans for a Snapdragon-based Razer gaming laptop.
An interesting note is that Qualcomm is testing the X2 Elite Extreme at power levels above 50W. Last year’s chips were limited to thin-and-light laptops, but this higher power envelope suggests Qualcomm is aiming to build larger, more performance-oriented PCs.
If you’re excited to get your hands on one, you’ll have to be patient. Unlike last year, when laptops started arriving soon after the announcement, devices with the Snapdragon X2 series aren’t expected until the first half of 2026.
Qualcomm Chipset Specifications based on the official website
| Category | Specification | Details |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Name | Qualcomm® Oryon™ |
| Cores | Up to 18 | |
| Architecture | 64-bit | |
| Clock Speed | Up to 5.0 GHz², Up to 4.4 GHz³ | |
| Cache | Up to 53 MB | |
| GPU | Name | Qualcomm® Adreno™ |
| APIs | DirectX® 12.2, Vulkan® 1.4, OpenCL™ 3.0 | |
| Clock Speed | Up to 1.85, Up to 1.70 GHz | |
| Part Numbers | X2-907, X2-858 | |
| NPU | Name | Qualcomm® Hexagon™ |
| Performance | Up to 80 TOPS | |
| Part Numbers | X2E-80-100, X2E-88-100, X2E-96-100 | |
| Memory | Type | LPDDR5x |
| Transfer Rate | Up to 9523 MT/s | |
| Bandwidth | Up to 228 GB/s | |
| Capacity | Over 128 GB | |
| Bus Width | Up to 192-bit | |
| Storage | SD | SDUC, SDXC |
| SSD/NVMe | Dual PCIe 5.0 | |
| UFS | UFS 4.0 | |
| Process | Node | 3 nm |
| Display | DPU Name | Qualcomm® Adreno™ |
| Max Resolution | Up to 4K UHD @ 144 Hz | |
| Concurrent Displays | 3 | |
| Interfaces | DisplayPort 1.4, eDP 1.5 | |
| VPU | Name | Qualcomm® Adreno™ VPU |
| Encoding | Dual 8K UHD @ 30 fps, 8K @ 15 fps, 4K UHD @ 60 fps | |
| Formats (Encode) | H.265 (HEVC), H.264 (AVC), AV1 | |
| Decoding | Dual 8K @ 60 fps | |
| Formats (Decode) | H.265, H.264, AV1 | |
| Concurrency | Decode: 8K60 / Encode: 8K30, Decode: 8K30 / Encode: 4K60 | |
| Camera | ISP | Qualcomm® Spectra™, Dual ISP, 18-bit |
| Dual Camera | Up to 36 MP | |
| Single Camera | Up to 36 MP | |
| Video Capture | Up to 4K @ 30 fps | |
| Audio | Qualcomm® Aqstic™, Qualcomm® aptX™ | |
| Cellular Modem | Name | Snapdragon® X75 5G Modem-RF |
| Download Speed | Up to 10 Gbps | |
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