Qualcomm is making a move for the mid-range PC market with a new system-on-chip.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Qualcomm unveiled Snapdragon X, the latest chip in its Snapdragon X Series of PC processors. The company claims that the chip, built on a 4nm fabrication process, delivers up to “multi-day” battery life and robust performance at an affordable price point.
There are still a few software compatibility issues to be worked out with Windows on Qualcomm’s chip architecture. Still, that hasn’t stopped the company from forging ahead with new processors in a bid to gain on rivals AMD and Intel.
Qualcomm has a long way to go: According to one recent industry report, Qualcomm captured just 0.8% of the PC market in Q3 2024.
The company said Snapdragon X will power a range of Copilot+ PCs, Microsoft’s Windows 11 machines with AI-powered tools and applications, set to launch in Q1 and priced at around $600. Packing Qualcomm’s Oryon CPU with 8 cores clocked up to 3GHz, Snapdragon X also has a neural processing unit (NPU), which supposedly accelerates AI workloads.
Other highlights include Bluetooth 5.4 compatibility, support for Wi-Fi 7, and the ability to power up to three external UHD (4K) monitors running at 60Hz. PC manufacturers that adopt Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Platform, a new hardware reference program, will also get additional tech such as Qualcomm’s A/V suite and proprietary image processing.
Expect to see Snapdragon X in laptops from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo in the coming weeks.
“There are over 60 Copilot+ PC designs powered by Snapdragon now available or in development,” Peter Burns, senior director of product marketing at Qualcomm, wrote in a blog post provided to TechCrunch last week. “[And in] 2024, we saw a remarkable 3X increase in native Windows apps for Snapdragon.”
Snapdragon comes to desktop
Qualcomm last year abruptly canceled its Windows-based mini PC, but the company said during CES that it’ll help bring to market desktops powered by its Snapdragon X Series processors in 2025.
A few of these desktops will come from Lenovo. The company’s new ThinkCentre neo 50q QC, and IdeaCentre Mini x (1L, 10) both sport Snapdragon X Series processors, albeit different SKUs. The ThinkCentre neo 50q QC comes with the Snapdragon X Plus or Snapdragon X, depending on the configuration, while the IdeaCentre Mini x (1L, 10) has the Snapdragon X Plus.
The Snapdragon X Plus launched last spring, following the Snapdragon X Elite in October 2023. Qualcomm introduced a less powerful, cheaper variant of the X Plus in September.
“The all-new mini and tiny desktop PCs mark a significant milestone in our PC journey,” Burns wrote. “Developers building applications on Windows on Snapdragon desktops can now take advantage of new design options and unprecedented power efficiency, enabling them to create more efficient and powerful applications with NPU-accelerated features.”
