Qualcomm has unveiled its new Snapdragon X Series chips for laptops, in addition to its new system-on-a-chip for flagship phones. The Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme chip meant for “ultra-premium” Windows 11 laptops are designed to handle “complex, expert-level workloads” and to enable fast AI processing, as well as a multi-day battery life. Meanwhile, the Snapdragon X2 Elite chips come in two variants, one with 18 total cores and one with 12. Qualcomm claims that these processors are the “fastest, most powerful and efficient processors for Windows PCs.”
The company launched the first Snapdragon X Elite chip in 2023 as its successor to the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 line of laptop processors. Qualcomm changed its name back then to reflect the huge leap in performance. Microsoft released a lineup of Copilot+ PCs with the new Snapdragon chip in 2024. And then earlier this year, at CES, Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon X for Copilot+ PCs priced $600 and under.
Qualcomm says that the new Elite Extreme chip can power laptops for scientists and professional creators who handle “computationally intense data analytics, professional media editing and scientific research.” It features the company’s third-gen Oryon CPU that can apparently run at up to 75 percent faster than competitors. The chip also comes equipped with Qualcomm’s Hexagon NPU, which it says is the “fastest NPU for laptops,” to enable simultaneous AI tools and experiences on Copilot+ PCs.
The lower tier Elite chips can still run at up to 31 percent faster and use 43 percent less energy than the previous generation. While they’re obviously meant for users who don’t handle more resource-intensive workloads, Qualcomm says they also enable simultaneous AI experiences. The first laptops powered by the Snapdragon X2 Elite processors will be available in the first half of 2026.
