Qualcomm Snapdragon X Chip Brings Copilot+ PCs To $600 Range

Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus and X Elite have been surprisingly good since their launch last year. I’ve used a couple of Snapdragon X Elite PCs and was impressed by their efficiency. The battery gains have revived my trust in ARM-powered Windows laptops, and I’ve now ditched my MacBook to give them another go. And Qualcomm doesn’t seem like it’s stopping anytime soon. At CES 2025, the company announced a new Snapdragon X Platform, which aims to make powerful performance and battery efficiency more accessible.

The Snapdragon X sits below the X Plus and X Elite platforms in the hierarchy but features some impressive specs. We’re looking at a slightly toned-down version of the Snapdragon X Plus. It is designed for mainstream and budget laptops and Qualcomm isn’t changing the core count but is scaling down the clock speed.

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While it won’t offer the same performance as the X Plus or X Elite variants, the Snapdragon X Platform sports the same design with an 8-core count that maxes out at 3.0GHz (CPU) and is built on the same 4nm process node.

For context, the Snapdragon X Plus series can go up to 3.4GHz and boost up to 4GHz for one SKU. The GPU ranges from 1.7 to 3.8 TFLOPs, while the Snapdragon X delivers 1.7 TFLOPs (GPU). It has the same 45 TOPS NPU to offer AI functionality for Copilot+ PCs.

Qualcomm claims that Snapdragon X delivers “163% faster performance at ISO-power” than their competitors “who also require 168% more power at ISO-performance.” These laptops will be geared toward students and workers whose tasks include web browsing, creating presentations, or streaming content.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Platform supports LPDDR5x RAM, Wi-Fi 7, USB4 (40Gbps), Bluetooth 5.4, and optional 5G connectivity. These specs might make it seem like this platform will power $1,000 laptops, but Qualcomm is making Copilot+ PCs more accessible. You’ll find Snapdragon X-powered laptops around the $600 range from brands like Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo in the coming months.

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According to the company, more than 60 laptop designs from OEMs are currently in production or development based on the Snapdragon X series of chips. More than 100 such laptops are scheduled to launch by 2026.