It has an NPU with up to 45 TOPS of performance, which puts it one rung below the X Elite.
With the Snapdragon X Elite, Qualcomm unveiled a significant laptop chip improvement last autumn. As we wait for those chips to show up in retail devices, Qualcomm is extending its lineup today with the Snapdragon X Plus, which I had the opportunity to try out before it launches on smartphones later this year.
The X Plus and its sister, the X Elite, have the same 4nm technology and Arm-based Oryon CPU architecture. The new chip features 10 CPU cores (compared to 12 for the X Elite) and lower clock rates (3.4 GHz vs. 3.8 GHz) because it is designed to be used in slightly less expensive consumer laptops. This arrangement of the X Elite as the flagship processor (similar to Intel’s Core Ultra 9 series) and the X Plus positioned just below it (corresponding to the Core Ultra 7 line) is quite similar to what Qualcomm’s competitors have been doing for some time.
One thing hasn’t changed, though: the Hexagon NPU in the X Plus produces the same 45 TOPS of machine learning performance as the X Elite. This is especially noteworthy because Microsoft recently proposed that in order for laptops to operate several components of its Copilot AI service on-device, the device would need to have at least 40 TOPS. Significant power efficiency claims are also being made by Qualcomm, with the X Plus chip reportedly offering 37% quicker CPU performance when compared to an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H when both chips are operating at the same wattage. Additionally, Qualcomm claims that in multi-threaded CPU operations, the X Plus outperforms Apple’s M3 processor by 10% when compared to other Arm-based chips.
Regretfully, it is anticipated that the X Plus will not be available in stores until the latter part of 2024. Nevertheless, I had the opportunity to test a few benchmarks on early reference devices made by Qualcomm during a hands-on session. And to my happy surprise, the X Plus did just as planned, scoring 12,905 multicore points on Geekbench and 852 multithread points on Cinebench 2024. (Note: Due to an error in Cinebench, the chip’s GPU is mistakenly labelled as coming from the X Elite rather than the X Plus because the CPU hasn’t been released yet.)
With its Oryon architecture, Qualcomm’s second and less costly processor is making a good showing. The true test, as usual, will be when the X Plus appears in official retail gear. This is because, despite their great benchmark numbers, these processors will still need to work well with Windows, which has not made the switch to Arm-based technology nearly as smoothly as Apple’s macOS has.
However, things might go more smoothly this time around because Qualcomm has been working with big players like Google to offer “dramatic performance improvements” in Chrome for devices using its laptop chips, and because Windows is now supported on Snapdragon PCs once again.