Qualcomm announces Snapdragon X Elite, 'most powerful and efficient' CPU for Windows

During its annual Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii, Qualcomm Technologies announced its long-rumored Snapdragon X Elite processor for personal computers. The company promises a "massive leap forward with best-in-class CPU performance," advanced AI processing, and "one of the most efficient processors" on the PC market with "multiple days" of battery life.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite is a 4nm SoC with 12 high-performance cores with max speeds of up to 3.8GHz. However, one or two cores can get past that and reach up to 4.3GHz. The manufacturer claims its newest chip for PCs delivers up to two times faster CPU performance at max power while matching competitors (Intel's i7-1360P and i7-1355U) maximum capability at 68% less power.

Compared with Intel's high-performance mobile processors, the Snapdragon X Elite promises to match performance levels while consuming 65% less power. As for Apple's M2 chip, customers can expect about 50% faster "peak multi-threaded performance" in benchmarks like Geekbench.

Built-in GPU is another area where the Snapdragon X Elite flexes its muscles, boasting two times faster graphics with 74% less power at a matching performance level in Intel's Core i7-13800H processor. Display-wise, the Adreno GPU supports up to three external 4K 60Hz displays.

Other features in the Snapdragon X Elite SoC include a 5G modem with mmWave and sub-6 support, a built-in neural processing unit for up to 4.5 times faster AI tasks than competitors, up to 64GB of LPDDR5x RAM, Wi-Fi 7, and USB 4.0 support.

Customers can expect the first computers powered by the Snapdragon X Elite platform to hit the market in mid-2024.