Qualcomm has officially announced the Snapdragon X Plus, its latest laptop processor. The deca-core chipset is a watered-down version of the Snapdragon X Elite launched last year. Both chips will start shipping inside Windows PCs later this year.
Snapdragon X Plus will power Windows PCs from leading vendors
The Snapdragon X Plus is Qualcomm’s entry-level offering. It features 10 Oryon CPU cores, while the Elite has 12 cores. The new chip boasts a peak CPU frequency of 3.4GHz, 64GB of RAM with 135 GB/s bandwidth, and 42MB of cache. The company claims a 37% faster CPU performance and up to 54% superior power efficiency compared to competitors. It doesn’t name the competitors, though.
The new Qualcomm chip features a Qualcomm Hexagon NPU with 45 TOPS (tera operations per second). The company says it is the world’s fastest NPU for laptops. This enables it to deliver “unprecedented performance, efficiency, and on-device AI capabilities” on Windows PCs. The American chip giant aims to transform the PC industry with a significant leap in computing innovation.
Built on a 4nm process, the Snapdragon X Plus supports LPDDR5x memory with a data transfer rate of 8448 MT/s. It has a 3.8 teraflop (TFLOP) integrated Adreno GPU. The chip can handle up to three external displays at 4K HDR resolution and a 60Hz refresh rate. The new Qualcomm processor is Wi-Fi 7-ready and boasts Bluetooth v5.4. It also has an advanced camera ISP and immersive lossless audio capabilities.
Overall, the Plus is a step down from the Elite. The latter’s 12-core CPU has a peak speed of 3.8GHz (up to 4.2GHz with Dual-Core Boost), while its integrated GPU is rated at 4.6 TFLOP. The Elite is available in three variants and only two of them boast Dual-Core Boost. All three have the same NPU. They also support the same memory as the Snapdragon X Plus, with the same speed.
These Qualcomm processors will debut soon
Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon X Elite in October 2023. It has yet to power a Windows PC. The company says it will debut alongside its Plus sibling starting later this year. It hasn’t named any vendor yet. “OEMs are expected to launch PCs powered by Snapdragon X Plus alongside devices powered by Snapdragon X Elite starting mid-2024,” Qualcomm said in its press release.
“Snapdragon X Series platforms deliver leading experiences and are positioned to revolutionize the PC industry. Snapdragon X Plus will power AI-supercharged PCs that enable even more users to excel as radical new AI experiences emerge in this period of rapid development and deployment,” said Kedar Kondap, a senior vice president and general manager of compute and gaming at Qualcomm.