Qualcomm ‘s new attempt to enter the PC sector with two high-power processors, the new Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme.
After several attempts to consolidate its X Series processors in the desktop PC sector , which failed quite well, Qualcomm is trying again, adding more power. Something quite surprising, because if you do the same thing again the result is likely to be repeated. In the end, assemblers will offer laptops with the same problems, we will have the inevitable incompatibilities with Windows 11 ARM emulating x86, limitation in games or professional apps, with DRM systems and above all with a high price that cannot compete with low power solutions from AMD or Intel, as has happened during all these years. The hook of high autonomy is not enough.
Undoubtedly the panorama will not change much until ARM PCs do not have an alternative with cheaper processors from other brands such as Mediatek, but it seems that competition for now is non-existent.
Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme, on the hunt for ARM PCs
The new X2 series offers the new third-generation Qualcomm Oryon CPUs. The X2 Elite (X2E-80-100) with a 12-core CPU, the X2 Elite (X2E-88-100) with 18 cores and the X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100), which features 18 cores at higher speeds. All three new chips are manufactured on TSMC’s 3nm process, with significant improvements in performance and efficiency.
As a graphics solution we have an improved Adreno GPU, which will offer a 2.3x increase in performance improvement. We also get support for DirectX 12.2 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4 and OpenCL 3.0.
They incorporate Qualcomm’s latest Hexagon NPU with 80 TOPS for AI. They support LPDDR5X RAM, high speed UFS 4.0 storage. They also offer us Wifi 7 and BT 5.3, 5G connectivity with their integrated modem and high-end power management.
Availability
- Soon we will see announced by major brands laptops and tablet PCs mounting the new Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme, sure to appear live at MWC 2026.
- It remains to be seen how many models reach the market after the poor reception of the previous versions, just look at the Snapdragon laptops sold on Amazon.
