Qualcomm revealed X Elite's benchmark scores

[leman]

I’m not convinced these new chips are so much better in end-user terms. The beauty of the M1 was ‘cool, quiet, low-power, fast’ and the more recent M-series seem to have been running hotter again.

I’ve yet to see anything that convinces me that I need anything more speed more than I need more battery.

M4 ships in a passively cooled laptop and is faster with longer battery life than any business sub notebook in the same price range. I therefore find your sentiment to be rather puzzling.

Higher power consumption is found on pro-level models because that's where we need more performance. And there is nothing wrong with that. The entire M4 Max consumes less power at peak than a current-get mobile x86 CPU in burst mode, so the advances remain the same.

 

[cjsuk]

Qualcomm has unveiled the second generation of its X SoC.

View attachment 2558118

TOPS of the Heap: Qualcomm Unveils Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme CPU With 18 Cores, Massive NPU

The new flagship chip, based on the Oryon architecture and largely destined for AI-forward, pro-grade laptops, will feature an 80 TOPS NPU. Also incoming in 2026: two new X2 Elite premium processors.

www.pcmag.com

Still the biggest problems are they run Windows or Linux.

 

[deconstruct60]

Qualcomm has unveiled the second generation of its X SoC.

View attachment 2558118

TOPS of the Heap: Qualcomm Unveils Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme CPU With 18 Cores, Massive NPU

The new flagship chip, based on the Oryon architecture and largely destined for AI-forward, pro-grade laptops, will feature an 80 TOPS NPU. Also incoming in 2026: two new X2 Elite premium processors.

www.pcmag.com

The substantive drop off in "prime" cores ( -6 plus cache cluster(s) ) , narrower bandwidth (128 bit bus for 80 'class' ; likely 80--100 class doesn't have more and the 88-100 is just binned down from 192-bit ** ) and different GPU are collectively suggests that there are two dies this time. If the smaller die helps them hit a lower bill of material cost then that will make this gen more competitive.

If there are A18Pro/A19Pro Macs coming then Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 may work for Qualcomm also at the affordable end of spectrum. Numbers probably 'juiced' a bit but if 10%. down it is still competitive for the target market.( if the modem doesn't cause a pricing problem).

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 shows up in Geekbench with a score of 3,831 — upcoming chip catches Apple's just-launched A19 Pro, beats desktop chips on single-core perf

If true, it's a big leap in performance.

www.tomshardware.com

So perhaps will make chromebooks this time. ( ChromeOS merging Android kernel probably helps. )


Decent chance the big Gen 4 to Gen5 uplift here is switching to Oryon cores. So that is somewhat a third die .
Once again , not particularly chasing either the Mn Max directly. Still in zone where more so competing with Intel/AMD than M-series directly in terms of sizing. Last time a bit between a M3 and M3 Pro . This time they are somewhat on either side of M4 Pro. Given Nvidia N1 looks to be landing in the Mn Max zone that is probably a prudent move.



(**) "...

Bus width

192-bit

128-bit

128-bit

..."
https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-com...ghz-3nm-arm-chips-sport-new-oryon-prime-cores

 

[deconstruct60]

Still the biggest problems are they run Windows or Linux.

Probably not a problem for people who are primarily Windows and/or Linux users. Still the bulk of the general market. Qualcomm doesn't need to sell these to everyone on the planet to be successful. Some folks are not in the target market. That isn't a 'problem'.

Neither is M-series not being able to natively, 'raw iron' run Windows. Again, Apple doesn't have to sell everything to everybody.






'

 

[name99]

Qualcomm has unveiled the second generation of its X SoC.

View attachment 2558118

TOPS of the Heap: Qualcomm Unveils Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme CPU With 18 Cores, Massive NPU

The new flagship chip, based on the Oryon architecture and largely destined for AI-forward, pro-grade laptops, will feature an 80 TOPS NPU. Also incoming in 2026: two new X2 Elite premium processors.

www.pcmag.com

What are these targeting?
In terms of cost and power, are these positioned as M-class (so tablets and low-end laptops)?
Are they positioned as Pro class (good laptop and mid range PC)?
Or as Max class (spectacular laptop and good, but not highest end, PC)?

Comparable with M specs, they look reasonable, but only if the power is OK.
Comparable with Max they seem inadequate.
So to my eyes they look most like Pro. But I suspect they are unbalanced, in that they match Pro on CPU but not on GPU, and the Windows people who care most about specs will care about that GPU?

Perhaps the great QC hope is that while Windows on ARM seems a lost cause due to mutual incompetence on both sides, Android on PC now has a real chance?

 

[deconstruct60]

What are these targeting?

Demos that Qualcomm had on display

Thin for the Win: Qualcomm Shows Wafer-Slim, Fanless Desktop PCs Powered by New Snapdragon X2 Chips

At Snapdragon Summit 2025, the chipmaker showed off two ultra-thin reference desktops (one shaped like a saucer!), driven by Snapdragon X2 Elite silicon and cooled with Frore Systems' futuristic, silent AirJet tech.

www.pcmag.com

A modular All-in-one where the subset of base pulls out as the "compute unit". Large , thin , puck ( which is likely a in=between that shows tablet, laptop , or mini/small-form factor desktop flexibility). And some laptops.
So New Mac Mini is likely in the 'target' overlap (where Windows systems already do). The hyper-thin iMac likely is also where Windows overlaps.

Or as Max class (spectacular laptop and good, but not highest end, PC)?
....
So to my eyes they look most like Pro. But I suspect they are unbalanced, in that they match Pro on CPU but not on GPU, and the Windows people who care most about specs will care about that GPU?

In the Windows world once get into Max class performance , they are more likely going to get customer grumbling about why they can't have a Nvidia dGPU. Strategically that would be a dubious move to push that Nvidia compete vector too hard. Even more so when Nvidia has their own Arm+Nvidia iGPU answer. Unilaterally declaring dGPUs dead in the laptop space isn't going to work in the Windows market.

Quallcomm needs to make Oryon cores compete in smartphones far more as a strategic priority than get into "land war in Asia with Nvidia" at the moment. Oryon cores in phones has likely far , far more volume and there is about zero Nvidia traction there.

Perhaps the great QC hope is that while Windows on ARM seems a lost cause due to mutual incompetence on both sides, Android on PC now has a real chance?

Android on smartphones is probably the bigger real chance.

Google finishing their merge of ChromeOS features on top of the core Andriod kernel+core libraries probably has as many bumps in the road to get around that Windows on ARM has at this point. Also decent chance that the Oryon specific Windows 11 kernel stuff is further down the maturity path than the MediaTek/Nvidia stuff. Oryon has already had the "have to wait for a delayed version of Windows 11" moment last year. windows on ARM will likely mature a bit slower , but will have more options. For the target market that is likely a better trade-off over the long term.

 

[Xiao_Xi]

Perhaps the great QC hope is that while Windows on ARM seems a lost cause due to mutual incompetence on both sides, Android on PC now has a real chance?

Qualcomm and Google talked about it during the Snapdragon Summit.

Google Teases Its Android PC Project Again. Qualcomm Says 'It's Incredible'

During Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit, Google's Rick Osterloh discusses next steps for a desktop version of Android.

www.pcmag.com

 

[deconstruct60]

Qualcomm and Google talked about it during the Snapdragon Summit.

Google Teases Its Android PC Project Again. Qualcomm Says 'It's Incredible'

During Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit, Google's Rick Osterloh discusses next steps for a desktop version of Android.

www.pcmag.com

calling this "Android PC" is a bit dubious.

" ... “We're basically taking the ChromeOS experience, and we're re-baselining the technology underneath it on Android,” he said. “That combination is something we're super excited about for next year.” ..."

From the end user side it is more so ChromeOS. Just will likely be able to run Andriod apps on 'side' without using as heavy a virtual machine. However, a decent chance the boot security and basic experience will be quite ChromeOS like. If there is 'headless' AI/ML subsystems don't have to re-invent wheel in that part of core OS library foundation also.

It really made little sense why ChromeOS and Android would run every diverging Linux kernels over the very long term anyway. It is a bit like how Apple converged the filesystem into. APFS that is used on both iOS/iPadOS/macOS etc into a easier to maintain source base. Apple has layered various tweaks to same central macH base over time.

The core of the Android user level ecosystem never really did all that well adapting to Tablets ; never mind classic PC screen form factors. ChromeOS hasn't had that problem. Tablets have been the "happen to work good enough" stage for a long time.

I kind of suspect this is one of those. "King is dead , long live the King" situations where "Android PC" is s "Prince of Wales" temporary tag until the classic ChromeOS gets killed off.

It will be substantively much more easier to move the ChromeOS ecosystem off of being predominately x86 over to being predominately being on ARM once have a more solid hardware infrastructure foundation. Google could even move it to their own custom hardware if they wanted longer term once the volume is large enough not to severely disrupt their partners. (e.g., when custom phone chip gets to gen 4-5 then make a bigger die version if there is still slower than desired uptake by market. ) .

Is that going to be a "Windows killer"? Probably not any more than macOS is.


I think Qualcomm's excitement is that their AI/ML work on phones will more seemlessly translate over to 'new' CHromeOS/Andriod PC and coming off of the smartphone ecosystem they have deeper leverage over competitors. (closer matching to what Gemini does on Pexel phones with Qualcomm phones. )


P.S. Maybe the userland experience will change so much they'll think that renmaing it would be better "Android PC". I think that is going to be a lot more goofy than it was to slap. Android on 'TV' to get to Android TV. they have a base in ChromeOS. just like classic Mac OS was a base for MacOS X. However, Google has made really silly product moves before. So could that be their path.


And a bit of an issue is that ChromeOS still has deep implication that it is just a big Chrome Browser. But slapping "Android" on it isn't much of an improvement (which has its own phone implications )

 

[Icelus]

Qualcomm Begins Posting Linux Patches For Snapdragon X2 Elite, 8 Elite Gen 5 SoCs - Phoronix

www.phoronix.com

 

[venom600]

M4 ships in a passively cooled laptop and is faster with longer battery life than any business sub notebook in the same price range. I therefore find your sentiment to be rather puzzling.

More insane, it ships in an 11" tablet that is super thin. The only thing anyone has done close to that is that Asus gaming tablet with the Ryzen chip, but it's thicker than a Macbook Air and it has fans while being marginally faster than a $800 iPad Pro. Oh, and it costs more than two grand.

 

[Xiao_Xi]

The real question is, are those benchmarks trustworthy?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1970979596788170904

 

[maflynn]

Still the biggest problems are they run Windows or Linux.

For you maybe, but being able to run windows and linux is good for the consumer, as it gives them options.

 

[senttoschool]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1970979596788170904

M4 ‘Max can be well over $3000.

I’m guessing this chip will be half of that. So the value is still really good if so.

 

[leman]

M4 ‘Max can be well over $3000.

I’m guessing this chip will be half of that. So the value is still really good if so.

Isn’t Elite Extreme a new, larger chip? Not to mention changes to memory packaging etc. are we sure this won’t affect the pricing?

 

[senttoschool]

Isn’t Elite Extreme a new, larger chip? Not to mention changes to memory packaging etc. are we sure this won’t affect the pricing?

I'm sure it would. This is likely a bit more expensive than previous top of the line. But it's definitely below Apple Silicon Max chips in pricing. My guess.

 

[DaniTheFox]

I'm sure it would. This is likely a bit more expensive than previous top of the line. But it's definitely below Apple Silicon Max chips in pricing. My guess.

Can we not expect the M5 Pro to be on a par with the M4 Max? It will cost around $2,000.

 

[deconstruct60]

Isn’t Elite Extreme a new, larger chip? Not to mention changes to memory packaging etc. are we sure this won’t affect the pricing?

Decent chance it is the additional I/O that would be driving up the die size on the "extreme" chip. I think Qualcomm has built a smaller die more so than a larger one. It could be up in size relative to gen 1 a bit but likely in similar ballpark. ( seems as though Qualcomm shrank the cache around the "Performance" cores to give them a smaller footprint. Probably a misnomer to label them 'E cores" though. The "Prime" cores are bigger, but have that offset. )


The "on package" RAM for the top end extreme part likely drives up costs a lot because have to buy the memory and SoC bundled together.

https://wccftech.com/snapdragon-x2-elite-extreme-die-package-shows-sip-ram/

High enough cost changes that Qualcomm uses off-package RAM for the other usage for the bigger die , but with a smaller memory channel width to match the small die variant (and likely smaller package since tossing more than a few pins for the dumped channels. ). The middle and bottom options likely share motherboards and the 'extreme' is going to be different motherboard layout. ( again that too would drive system cost differences. )


[ First gen X Elite was 169.6 mm^2

Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite Die Exposed and Annotated

Based on information shared by a Baidu user called Piglin, we now have access to an annotated die image of Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processor. This analysis provides insights into the architecture of this new system-on-chip, highlighting several key features, including large CPU cores, a...

www.techpowerup.com

M2 155 mm^2 TSMC N5
M3 146 mm^2 TSMC N3 ( major process shrink so not surprisingly got incrementally smaller)

M2 Pro 289 mm^2
M3 Pro ??

]

 

[crazy dave]

M4 ‘Max can be well over $3000.

I’m guessing this chip will be half of that. So the value is still really good if so.

I'm sure it would. This is likely a bit more expensive than previous top of the line. But it's definitely below Apple Silicon Max chips in pricing. My guess.

Can we not expect the M5 Pro to be on a par with the M4 Max? It will cost around $2,000.

Indeed, my guess is that the new Elite Extreme CPU will be around a full M5 Pro* in terms of MT performance, however, QC's CPU structure is pretty different so we'll just have to see any die shots that get made and hopefully we'll have M5 die shots to compare to or at least make estimates from. However, the Extreme might overall still be cheaper than the M5 Pro since the GPU and memory bandwidth looks smaller, even smaller than the current M4 Pro in fact. That should keep costs down - though obviously at the expense of performance in those areas.

*Edit: making certain assumptions about the M5 Pro CPU structure of course