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Qualcomm used its Snapdragon Summit 2025 to unveil a new family of Arm-based PC chips that promise major performance and efficiency gains for Windows laptops. The Snapdragon X2 Elite series — and its higher-end X2 Elite Extreme sibling — are aimed at premium thin-and-light systems and could soon appear in Samsung's Galaxy Book Edge lineup.
What Qualcomm revealed at the Snapdragon Summit
Alongside the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for flagship phones, Qualcomm introduced two purpose-built laptop SoCs: the Snapdragon X2 Elite and the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme. Built on TSMC's 3nm process, these Arm-based chips are designed for Windows PCs and target a balance of battery life and sustained performance for mobile workstations and ultraportables.
Key technical highlights
The X2 Elite family uses Qualcomm's third-generation Oryon CPU cores and comes in multiple configurations. The X2 Elite is available in a 12-core option (commonly split into six prime and six performance cores) and an 18-core variant (typically 12 prime + 6 performance). The X2 Elite Extreme pushes the core count further for even higher multi-threaded throughput.
Clock speeds are competitive: the X2 Elite chips can hit dual-core boosts up to around 4.7GHz, while the Extreme part can reach up to 5GHz on dual-core peaks. Qualcomm claims up to ~31% higher performance or as much as ~43% lower power draw versus last year's Snapdragon X Elite parts, emphasizing efficiency gains as much as raw speed.
Graphics have been upgraded too. Adreno GPUs in the family are clocked up to about 1.7GHz on the standard X2 Elite and 1.85GHz on the Elite Extreme. The GPUs support modern graphics APIs including DirectX 12.2 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and OpenCL 3.0, and can drive multiple high-resolution external displays — for example, three 5K panels at 60Hz or three 4K panels at up to 144Hz. Qualcomm also claims roughly 2.3x better performance per watt compared to previous-generation laptop GPUs.
Memory, storage, AI and connectivity
All three chips support LPDDR5x memory. The standard X2 Elite parts use a 128-bit memory bus offering up to around 152GB/s bandwidth, while the Elite Extreme expands to a wider 192-bit bus with roughly 228GB/s throughput. Storage and I/O are modern: dual PCIe 5.0 NVMe support, UFS 4.0, and SDUC/SDXC compatibility are all on the spec list.
Qualcomm also emphasized AI and multimedia. Each chip includes a powerful NPU rated at about 80 TOPS and a sizable shared cache (reported at 53MB), enabling faster on-device AI workloads. Connectivity features include Wi‑Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, 5G modem support, and multiple USB4 Type‑C ports. Media capabilities cover aptX audio, 4K 30fps recording, and hardware decoding up to 8K 60fps.
When you can expect Snapdragon X2 Elite laptops
Qualcomm says the Snapdragon X2 Elite series will begin appearing in laptops in spring 2026. The company expects broad OEM adoption, and Samsung is frequently named among the first partners — the Galaxy Book Edge series is a strong candidate to receive the new chips. Other major laptop makers are also likely to adopt the platform for premium Windows ultraportables.
Conclusion
With 3nm manufacturing, third-generation Oryon cores, improved Adreno GPUs and a heavy emphasis on AI performance and connectivity, Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite family is positioned to make Arm-based Windows laptops more competitive with traditional x86 machines. If the claimed efficiency and sustained performance hold up in real devices, we should see thinner, lighter Windows notebooks with better battery life and capable multimedia and AI features arriving throughout 2026.
Source: sammobile
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