Qualcomm unveils ARM-based Snapdragon X Plus to take on laptop chip rivals

With 10 cores, an AI-focused 45 TOPS NPU, and up to 37% faster CPU than rivals, the Snapdragon X Plus is perhaps Qualcomm's biggest laptop chip play yet.

The chip features enhanced AI processing capabilities. (Image: Qualcomm)

Qualcomm has unveiled its all-new Snapdragon X Plus, an ARM-based chip that could potentially challenge the dominance of industry giants like Apple, Intel, and AMD in the laptop market. This follows the heels of the previously announced Snapdragon X Elite chips.

While Qualcomm processors have graced laptops before, the Snapdragon X Plus represents the company’s most serious foray into this arena, boasting impressive specs that could give traditional laptop chip makers a run for their money.

At the heart of the Snapdragon X Plus lies the Qualcomm Oryon CPU, a custom-integrated processor promising up to 37% faster performance compared to competitors, all while consuming up to 54% less power.

The chip packs 10 cores, 42MB of cache, and a maximum multithreaded frequency of 3.4GHz. Additionally, it features an NPU (Neural Processing Unit) capable of 45 tera operations per second (TOPS), gearing it up for the demanding world of generative AI applications.

(Image: Qualcomm)

Complementing the CPU is a powerful 3.8 teraflop Adreno GPU and support for LPDDR5x memory with a maximum transfer rate of 8448 MT/s.

To showcase the capabilities of the Snapdragon X Plus, Qualcomm demonstrated several AI-optimised applications, including code generation in Visual Studio Code, music generation in Audacity using Riffusion, and real-time live captions in OBS Studio powered by Whisper, an on-device AI translation tool.

OEMs are expected to launch laptops powered by the Snapdragon X Plus alongside devices featuring the Snapdragon X Elite starting in mid-2024.

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