Qualcomm has unveiled its next-generation laptop processors with the introduction of the Snapdragon X2 Elite and Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme. These processors are part of the company’s second wave of X-series chips aimed at Windows PCs, representing a significant effort to compete with established players in performance, gaming, and AI. The highlight of this launch is the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, which is claimed to be Qualcomm’s most powerful laptop chip to date. Manufactured using an advanced 3nm process, the Extreme version incorporates Qualcomm’s newest Oryon CPU architecture and features an impressive 18 cores.
Most of these cores can achieve clock speeds up to 4.4GHz, while two cores can reach 5GHz, marking it as the first Arm-based CPU to hit such speeds. Qualcomm asserts that this advancement allows the Extreme chip to provide up to 75 percent greater CPU performance than its rivals at comparable power levels. The graphics performance has also seen significant enhancements, with the updated Adreno GPU operating at 1.85GHz and offering more than double the performance-per-watt compared to the earlier Snapdragon X Elite. Additionally, Qualcomm has included 18MB of Adreno High Performance Memory cache to enhance gaming on Windows laptops.
Although the gaming ecosystem on Arm laptops is still developing, the company believes these enhancements will result in smoother performance for supported games. AI continues to be a key element in Qualcomm’s approach. The Snapdragon X2 series features a new Hexagon NPU capable of 80 TOPS (trillions of operations per second), which Qualcomm claims is the highest for NPUs in laptops currently. This results in a 37 percent increase in AI performance while lowering power consumption by 16 percent. Real-world applications such as faster edits in Adobe Photoshop and quicker exports in Lightroom illustrate how these enhancements could revolutionize creative workflows.
Power efficiency remains one of Qualcomm’s major advantages, with the company stating that laptops with Snapdragon X2 processors will provide multi-day battery life, even for systems with power requirements exceeding 50W. Last year’s Snapdragon X Elite models offered between 14 to 18 hours of battery life, but the new design is expected to enhance this further, indicating Qualcomm’s ambition to reach beyond slim notebooks into more robust laptop options. Connectivity is also a priority in Qualcomm’s vision. Both the Elite and Elite Extreme models will support Wi-Fi 7 and 5G, continuing the push for always-connected PCs. The ecosystem surrounding Windows on Snapdragon is also becoming stronger.
During the launch, Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan announced that the company’s Synapse software will support Snapdragon-powered PCs, although he did not confirm the development of a gaming laptop utilizing the new processors. Consumers will have to be patient, as Qualcomm has indicated that the first laptops powered by the Snapdragon X2 Elite and Elite Extreme are expected to ship in the first half of 2026.