Qualcomm has recently announced the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) and Snapdragon X2 Elite (X2E-88-100 and X2E-80-100) processors for Windows PCs, which the company claims are the “Fastest and Most Efficient” for laptops.
All three 3nm parts are equipped with six Performance cores clocked at up to 3.6 GHz, six or twelve Premium cores clocked at up to 5 GHz (single core) or 4.4 GHz (multi-core), an Adreno X2-85 or X2-90 GPU, an 80 TOPS Hexagon NPU for Copilot+, and an LPDDR5x memory interface for up to 128+ GB memory with up to 228GB/s bandwidth. Other highlights include the Snapdragon X75 5G modem, FastConnect 7800 WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 chipset, 4K video resolution for built-in and external displays, USB4, PCIe Gen5 interfaces, and more.
Let’s check the full specifications and differences between the three Snapdragon X2 Elite devices in the table below.
| Name | Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme | Snapdragon X2 Elite | Snapdragon X2 Elite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part Number | X2E-96-100 | X2E-88-100 | X2E-80-100 |
| Architecture | ARM64+-Compatible |
||
| Total Cores | 18 | 12 |
|
| Prime Cores | 12 | 6 |
|
| Multi-Core Max Frequency | 4.4 GHz | 4.0 GHz |
|
| Boost Frequency | 5.0 GHz (Single-Core) / 5.0 GHz (Dual-Core) | 4.7 GHz (Single-Core) / 4.7 GHz (Dual-Core) | 4.7 GHz (Single-Core) / 4.4 GHz (Dual-Core) |
| Performance Cores | 6 |
||
| Multi-Core Max Frequency (Perf) | 3.6 GHz | 3.4 GHz |
|
| Total Cache | 53 MB | 34 MB |
|
| GPU | Adreno X2-90 @ 1.85 GHz | Adreno X2-90 @ 1.70 GHz | Adreno X2-85 @ 1.70 GHz |
| GPU API support | DirectX 12.2 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, OpenCL 3.0 |
||
| VPU | Encode: HEVC, AVC: Dual 8K UHD @ 30 FPS, AV1: 8K UHD @ 15 FPS, UHD @ 60 FPS Decode: AV1, HEVC, AVC: Dual 8K @ 60 FPS Concurrent: 8K UHD @ 30 FPS Encode + 8K @ 60 FPS Decode | Encode: HEVC, AVC: 8K UHD @ 30 FPS, AV1: 8K UHD @ 15 FPS, UHD @ 60 FPS Decode: AV1, HEVC, AVC: 8K@60 FPS Concurrent: UHD @ 60 FPS Encode + 8K @ 60 FPS Decode |
|
| NPU | 80 TOPS (INT8) NPU Dual Micro NPU on Qualcomm Sensing Hub |
||
| Memory Type | Up to 128+ GB 192-bit LPDDR5x (48GB default) up to 228GB/s | Up to 128GB 128-bit LPDDR5x up to 152 GB/s |
|
| Storage | NVMe (2x PCIe Gen5) UFS 4.0 SDUC with SD Express, SDXC with UHS-I |
||
| Display | Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) 1.5, DSI up to 4Kp144 DisplayPort 1.4 up to 3 displays at 4Kp144 or 5Kp60 |
||
| Camera | Dual 18-bit Spectra ISPs Up to 36 MP dual camera Up to 36 MP single camera Video capture @ 4Kp30 |
||
| Audio Technology | Qualcomm Aqstic, Qualcomm aptX |
||
| Cellular | Snapdragon X75 5G Modem-RF System up to 10 Gbps DL, 3.5 Gbps UL. M.2 PCIe 3.0 interface |
||
| WiFi and Bluetooth | Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 WiFi 7 (802.11be) and Bluetooth 5 .4. M.2 PCIe 3.0 interface |
||
| Out-of-Band Management via Cellular & Wi-Fi | Snapdragon Guardian Technology |
||
| USB | USB4 (40Gbps) 3x USB-C interfaces |
||
| PCIe | 12x PCIe Gen 5.0 lanes 4x PCIe Gen 4.0 lanes | 8x PCIe Gen 5.0 lanes 4x PCIe Gen 4.0 lanes |
|
| Process Node | 3nm |
||
Qualcomm claims the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme provides up to 75% faster CPU performance than the competition at ISO power (i.e., it has a better performance/watt ratio) and delivers a 2.3x increase in performance per watt and power efficiency for the GPU over the previous generation X Elite SoC. The Snapdragon X2 Elite is said to boast up to 31% faster performance at ISO power and requires up to 43% less power than X Elite. The chart above also shows the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme is 5.7 times faster than an Intel Core Ultra 9 285H in the Procyon AI computer vision benchmark.
Another new feature is the Snapdragon Guardian Technology for out-of-band management. It combines hardware, software, and cloud services and leverages Wi-Fi and 5G connectivity so businesses and end users can manage, find, lock, and wipe their PC from anywhere with cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity.
While Qualcomm focuses on Windows 11 during the announcement, Snapdragon processors for laptops have traditionally been ported to Linux, and the first patchsets for Glymur (codename for Snapdragon X2 Elite platforms) have been submitted to the Linux kernel mailing list.
The first devices based on the Snapdragon X2 Elite / X2 Elite Extreme are expected to be available H1 2026. More details may be found on the product page and the press release.
Thanks to TLS for the tip.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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“Snapdragon processors for laptops have traditionally been ported to Linux, and the first patchsets for Glymur (codename for Snapdragon X2 Elite platforms) have been submitted to the Linux kernel mailing list.”
AFAIK Ubuntu is still a problem for Snapdragon X Elite devices, and non-existing for Snapdragon X Plus. So that says something about the help & push from Qualcomm and laptop manufacterers.
LKML: the person sending patches is “Principal Manager at Qualcomm”, so maybe hopeful, but I won’t hold my breath. IMHO Qualcomm should behave like Intel: pro-active have stuff in the linux kernel.
Until that time: not spending my money on Qualcomm based systems.
how is the linux support for prev generation?
not good, I would say: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/faq-ubuntu-25-04-on-snapdragon-x-elite/61016
perhaps once AMD releases their own ARM cpus we will see things go faster in this realm
Interesting to see that they essentially focus on AI stuff while this area is changing every single day, while with so many cores at high frequencies, I suspect they’re able to beat quite a number of decent x86 machines on generic workloads.
“Beating” or simply “trading performance for power consumption”?
Even then, multicore performance is great only if it can be used.
On the windows platform when using CAD the advise is still “find a processor with a high single core speed”…
This ^
That’s very specific, one could just as easily say compiling chrome on this ARM based device is faster.
I always hate the “remote management” feature big techs incorporate into their processors or OSes. Adding an out of band access is a pure non-sense security-wise. You add an uncontrolled access not only to legit actors (big techs with a lot of “goodwill”) but also to hackers.
The most secure system is an encrypted read-only system without the decryption key in it and giving privileged access to an unknown party is looking for trouble.
That said, nearly everybody uses Windows and think that is secure…
I have ZERO intention of ever buying or building a arm based PC. For one, there are bound to be software and hardware compatibility issues (other than the OS that needs to be ARM version). For another, keep in your lane! I like my Intel. Or AMD.
I thought the same thing until Apple M3 and beyond arrived.