Snapdragon X Plus set to shake up laptop chip market

Qualcomm has officially unveiled its latest chip for laptops, the Snapdragon X Plus platform.

This announcement comes after some earlier leaks hinted at its arrival. The new processor is positioned just below the previously announced Snapdragon X Elite chips.

The Snapdragon X Plus boasts a 10-core Oryon CPU clocked at up to 3.4 GHz, alongside up to 64GB of RAM with 135 GB/s bandwidth. Notably, it features a 45 TOPS NPU, which Qualcomm claims to be the fastest NPU for laptops globally. This chip promises impressive performance, extended battery life, and leading on-device AI capabilities.

On-device AI capabilities

During the presentation, Qualcomm showcased various applications powered by the Snapdragon X Plus, including code generation in Visual Studio Code, music generation in Audacity, and live captions in OBS Studio, all utilising on-device AI for enhanced functionality.

Availability and performance

Laptops equipped with the Snapdragon X Plus are expected to hit the market from prominent global OEMs around the middle of this year. The X Plus chip offers 37 percent faster performance compared to some competitors while consuming up to 54 percent less power. It supports LPDDR5x memory, features 42MB of total cache, and is built on a 4nm process.

The Snapdragon X Plus can accommodate three external displays at 4K HDR, with Wi-Fi 7 support, Bluetooth 5.4, an advanced camera ISP, and "immersive lossless audio."

With 10 cores, 42 MB of cache, a maximum frequency of 3.4GHz, and a 45 TOPS NPU, the Snapdragon X Plus is Qualcomm's entry-level laptop chip. It also supports LPDDR5x memory and boasts a 3.8 teraflop integrated Adreno GPU.

In addition to the X Plus, Qualcomm is set to release three twelve-core Snapdragon X Elite processors, offering even higher performance and capabilities. These chips feature a maximum frequency of 3.8GHz and up to a 4.6 TFLOP iGPU, along with Dual-Core Boost technology for enhanced performance.