On September 30th， Quick Technology reported that after a two-year hiatus， Qualcomm has once again upgraded its PC laptop processors， introducing the Snapdragon X2 Elite and Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme. These are touted as the most powerful and energy-efficient Windows PC platforms ever created.
Coinciding with the announcement， Quick Technology had the opportunity to conduct internal testing of the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme’s actual benchmark performance at the summit held in Hawaii. We are now pleased to share these results with you.
Unlike the previous generation’s reveal， which showcased only a standard laptop prototype， this time， Qualcomm presented a variety of form factors for their prototype devices. These included ultra-thin laptops of different sizes， 2-in-1 convertibles， and mini PCs.
Notably， two mini PC designs stood out: a circular model and a square one， both with a thickness of less than 12.7 millimeters. They incorporate Frore System’s AirJet fanless cooling solution， which utilizes pulsed thermoelectric material technology. The square model even offers the flexibility to be directly embedded into a monitor stand.
Examining the physical chips of the Snapdragon X2 Elite series， we observe that three memory modules are integrated and packaged together， each at 16GB. This design aesthetic bears a resemblance to Intel’s Lunar Lake processors.
The test unit we used was a standard thin-and-light laptop equipped with the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme processor (X2E-96-100)， 48GB of RAM， a 1TB SSD， and a 16-inch display.
While the memory frequency was not officially disclosed， its part number suggests it is Samsung LPDDR5X-7500.
Before diving into the benchmarks， let’s briefly review the technical specifications of the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme series.
Both the Snapdragon X2 Elite series and the mobile Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 flagship utilize the third-generation N3P 3nm process and the third-generation custom Oryon CPU architecture， marking the first time these are completely synchronized across platforms.
The CPU core count has increased from 12 to 18. Unlike previous generations， these cores are not all of a single type but are divided into two groups， similar to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for mobile: a cluster of 12 prime cores and a cluster of 6 performance cores. The prime cores can reach clock speeds of up to 4.4GHz， a 600MHz improvement over the previous generation， while the performance cores can operate at up to 3.6GHz.
When running on just one or two cores， the processor can boost to an impressive 5GHz， a 700MHz increase from the previous generation. This also marks a significant milestone as the first time an Arm instruction set compatible CPU has reached a 5GHz clock speed.
The system cache has been expanded to 53MB， an increase of 11MB.
The GPU has been updated to support DX12.2 Ultimate， Vulkan 1.4， and OpenCL 3.0， with improvements to ray tracing and enhanced GMEM (Graphics Memory Management Unit). While not a revolutionary overhaul， these are welcome enhancements.
Video output capabilities are robust， supporting DP 1.4 and eDP 1.5. The internal display can handle up to 4K at 144Hz， and external displays can be driven up to three 4K displays at 144Hz or one 5K display at 60Hz.
The Hexagon NPU features two Micro NPU units and boasts an INT8 precision compute power of up to 80 TOPS. This represents an increase of nearly 80% compared to the previous generation’s 45 TOPS， positioning it as the current leader in this domain.
In comparison， under the same INT8 precision， AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 and Ryzen AI Max 300 series processors offer up to 50 TOPS， Intel’s Core Ultra 200V series reaches 48 TOPS， the Core Ultra 200H series is at 13 TOPS， and Apple’s M4 chip is at 38 TOPS.
Memory support has been upgraded to LPDDR5X-9523 with a 192-bit memory bus， delivering a bandwidth of 228GB/s and supporting capacities exceeding 128GB.
Storage options include NVMe PCIe 5.0 SSDs， UFS 4.0， SDUC SD Express， or SDXC UHS-I.
The following section presents Qualcomm’s official performance demonstrations， including comparisons against the previous generation Snapdragon 8 series， Intel’s Core Ultra 9 288V (Lunar Lake)/Core Ultra 9 285H (Arrow Lake)， AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (Strix Halo)， and Apple’s M4， among other comparable products.
For CPU performance， Qualcomm showcased results from Geekbench 6.5. It’s important to note that while Geekbench is a cross-platform benchmark， it tends to favor Arm architecture and may not be the most representative for x86 processors. Therefore， these results should be considered for reference.
The single-core benchmark scores exceeded 4000， representing an approximate 40% improvement over the previous generation’s score of nearly 3000.
Compared to AMD’s leading processors， the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme demonstrates over a 40% advantage， while against Intel， it shows a lead of around 35%. It also holds a slight edge over Apple’s M-series chips.
In the multi-core test of Geekbench 6.5， scores approached 23，500， marking an impressive 50% increase over the previous generation.
This performance reportedly surpasses Intel’s 288V by over two times and leads Intel’s higher-core count 285H by approximately 33%.
For GPU performance， the 3DMark Solar Bay benchmark was utilized. In this cross-platform test， frame rates exceeded 90 FPS， an 80% leap from the previous generation.
Against competing products， Qualcomm claims a lead of roughly 40-60%.
The NPU’s AI performance is indeed impressive. The Procyon AI computer vision test shows an increase of nearly 80% compared to the previous generation， aligning well with the hardware specification changes.
In contrast， competing products begin to fall behind. In both Procyon and Geekbench tests， the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme demonstrates a significant lead， outperforming Intel’s 285H by approximately 5.7 times and Apple’s M4 by 70% to over double.
It is crucial to acknowledge that NPU hardware designs vary greatly among manufacturers， and performance in this area is also heavily dependent on software optimization.
The following section presents actual test results from the event， focusing solely on the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme. We have attempted to include historical data from competitor products for a more direct comparison.
Actual Geekbench 6.5 test results show a single-core score of 4078 and a multi-core score of 23457， which are nearly identical to the official figures. However， as previously mentioned， the suitability of this benchmark for cross-architecture comparisons is limited， so we will not dwell on it further.
In CineBench 2024， the single-core score was 161 and the multi-core score was 1974.
According to Quick Technology’s real-world tests， the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 in the ASUS Zenbook 16 Air， with a 30W power limit， achieved a single-core score of 111 and a multi-core score of 902. The Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme reportedly leads these scores by approximately 45% and 120%， respectively.
The Core Ultra 9 285H in the ASUS Zenbook 14 2025， also with a 30W power limit， achieved a single-core score of 129 and a multi-core score of 822. In this comparison， the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme shows a lead of about 25% in single-core performance and 140% in multi-core performance.
In the 3DMark Solar Bay graphics test， the composite score was 23586， with an average frame rate of 89.68 FPS， which closely matches Qualcomm’s reported figures.
The strongest integrated graphics solution on the x86 platform comes from AMD’s Radeon 8060S within the Ryzen AI Max+ 395， which achieved an average score of 53012 – more than 2.5 times that of the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme. However， these are not directly comparable products operating in the same segment.
The Radeon 890M within the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 achieved an average score of 14849. The Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme outperforms this by 59%， closely aligning with Qualcomm’s promoted 61% advantage.
Similarly， Intel’s Arc Graphics 140T and 140V in the Core Ultra 9 285H and Core Ultra 9 288V processors achieved average scores of 14697 and 16907， respectively. The Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme leads them by approximately 60% and 40%， respectively， which is also consistent with Qualcomm’s official claims.
The 3DMark Steel Nomad Light (DX12) test yielded a score of 5648 with an average frame rate of 41.84 FPS.
The AMD 370， Intel 285H， and 288V processors achieved average scores of 3201， 3395， and 3395， respectively. The Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme shows a more significant advantage here， leading by 76% and 66% respectively.
The Procyon Office benchmark， which measures office application performance， scored 9928. This score is nearly at the upper limit of Qualcomm’s advertised performance.
Scores in Speedometer and JetStream 2， indicators of web browsing performance and overall user experience fluidity， were 53.5 and 559.124， respectively. These also appear to be at the cusp of the officially advertised performance ceiling.
We now keenly await the launch and subsequent real-world performance of laptops equipped with the Snapdragon X2 Elite series. Furthermore， there is considerable anticipation for the swift maturation of the supporting ecosystem.
