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Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme are Qualcomm's new SoCs for the Windows PC market, with a focus on high performance workloads and great efficiency that rivals the latest from Apple, AMD, and Intel. But not until 2026.
Today at Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit, the company finally unveiled its next-generation wave of Arm-based PC chips. This time, we're getting two high-end system-on-a-chips (SoCs) in the form of a Snapdragon X2 Elite and Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme with even more performance designed to rival Apple's latest silicon.
Qualcomm has confirmed that these new chips won't launch until early next year, meaning we still have a number of months to wait before we can get our hands on this latest Snapdragon silicon. For now, the company has outlined how these chips are a huge improvement over the original Snapdragon X Elite, built on a new 3nm process that should make these chips more efficient.
The Snapdragon X2 Elite now features both 12- or 18-core configurations, with 6 performance cores and up to 12 prime cores, with a boost frequency up to 4.7GHz. Qualcomm says the X2 Elite boasts up to 31% faster performance at ISO power, while pulling 43% less power than the original Snapdragon X Elite. That translates to better overall performance and efficiency.
It's the same story in the GPU and NPU department. Qualcomm says the X2 Elite brings a 2.3X increase in performance per watt and power efficiency over the last gen Adreno GPU, though the company hasn't shared total TFLOPS output just yet. The NPU has also been upgraded, now sporting 80 TOPS of compute power compared to the 45 TOPS of the original generation. That should enable more complex and intensive AI compute workloads on device.
Be sure to check out our in-depth comparison between the Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X2 Elite, where we break down all the technical differences and improvements. Below, you'll find a spec table for all the new Snapdragon X2 Elite chips, including the X2 Elite Extreme:
|
Feature |
Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme |
Snapdragon X2 Elite (88) |
Snapdragon X2 Elite (80) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Model Number |
X2E-96-100 |
X2E-88-100 |
X2E-80-100 |
|
Architecture |
ARM64 |
ARM64 |
ARM64 |
|
Total Cores |
18 |
18 |
12 |
|
Prime Cores |
12 |
12 |
6 |
|
Multi-Core Max Frequency |
4.4 GHz |
4.0 GHz |
4.0 GHz |
|
Boost Frequency |
5.0 GHz Single-Core / 5.0 GHz Dual-Core |
4.7 GHz Single-Core / 4.7 GHz Dual-Core |
4.7 GHz Single-Core / 4.4 GHz Dual-Core |
|
Performance Cores |
6 |
6 |
6 |
|
Performance Cores Max Frequency |
3.6 GHz |
3.4 GHz |
3.4 GHz |
|
Total Cache |
53 MB |
53 MB |
34 MB |
|
GPU Part Number |
X2-90 |
X2-90 |
X2-85 |
|
GPU Max Frequency |
1.85 GHz |
1.70 GHz |
1.70 GHz |
|
API Support |
DirectX 12.2 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, OpenCL 3.0 |
DirectX 12.2 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, OpenCL 3.0 |
DirectX 12.2 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, OpenCL 3.0 |
|
TOPS (INT8) |
80 |
80 |
80 |
|
Micro NPU |
Dual Micro NPU on the Qualcomm Sensing Hub |
Dual Micro NPU on the Qualcomm Sensing Hub |
Dual Micro NPU on the Qualcomm Sensing Hub |
|
Memory Type |
LPDDR5x |
LPDDR5x |
LPDDR5x |
|
Max Capacity |
128+ GB |
128 GB |
128 GB |
|
Configured Capacity |
48 GB |
Device-Specific |
Device-Specific |
|
Transfer Rate |
9523 MT/s |
9523 MT/s |
9523 MT/s |
|
Bus Width |
192-bit |
128-bit |
128-bit |
|
Bandwidth |
228 GB/s |
152 GB/s |
152 GB/s |
The Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme shares many of the same specs with the standard X2 Elite when it comes to GPU and NPU, but the CPU boasts up to 75% more performance than the competition at ISO power. It can boost up to 5GHz, which the company says is a first for an Arm-based chip. It also has a higher memory bandwidth of 228GB/s.
Qualcomm says the X2 Elite Extreme is designed for "expert-level workloads with ultimate performance, multi-day battery life and blazing fast AI-processing power," positioning it as a viable alternative to Apple's latest M4 Pro/Max silicon, with a minimum of 48GB RAM and support for more than 128GB if configured.
Of course, it isn't just Apple Silicon that Qualcomm is interested in competing with. Both Intel and AMD have high-end mobile chips in the form of Arrow Lake and Strix Point, and Qualcomm is confident that its new Snapdragon X2 Elite chips will beat its x86 competition in performance and efficiency too.
The X2 series will run on a range of PC hardware.
(Image credit: Qualcomm)
Qualcomm expects these new X2 Elite chips to ship in a wide variety of Windows hardware, including 2-in-1's like the Surface Pro, thin and light laptops, workstation-grade laptops, and mini PCs. It's also possible that with chips like the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, we'll even see desktop tower PCs with a Snapdragon processor.
These new Snapdragon chips have come swinging right out of the gate. Qualcomm clearly wants the world to know that its chips are worth considering if you're looking for a Windows PC that's capable of professional grade resource intensive workflows. Notably, Qualcomm didn't announce a lower-tier model of the X2 at this event, as that's likely being saved for 2026.
If you've been waiting for Qualcomm to refresh its Snapdragon PC chips, the wait is almost over. The company says to expect the first Snapdragon X2 Elite-based PCs to ship in the first half of 2026, with the first devices likely being unveiled at CES 2026 if not sooner. Microsoft intends to ship its own updated Surface Pro 12th Gen and Surface Laptop 8th Gen with the Snapdragon X2 wave of silicon sometime next year.
Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.
Posted Thursday 25 September 2025 at 6:11 pm AEST (my time).
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