Qualcomm Intros Snapdragon X Plus 8-Core: Brings Copilot+ In The Reach of Entry-Level Users

Qualcomm Intros Snapdragon X Plus 8-Core: Brings Copilot+ In The Reach of Entry-Level Users 1

Qualcomm has introduced its brand new Snapdragon X Plus 8-Core CPU which brings 45 TOPS of AI performance for Copilot+ PCs to mainstream users.

The Snapdragon X lineup has so far consisted of the 12-core "Elite" and 10-core "Plus" variants but today, Qualcomm is making a brand new addition to its lineup with an 8-core "Plus" SKU which is aimed at mainstream audiences who want to take advantage of Microsoft's Copilot+ features and a very capable office/home setup.

A few highlights of today's launch:

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon took the stage ahead of IFA to unveil the expansion of the Snapdragon X Series portfolio, enabling OEMs to offer Copilot+ PCs in the $700 to $900 range.

Snapdragon X Plus 8-core maintains performance leadership in thin and light PCs, with a custom Qualcomm Oryon CPU, and best-in-class power efficiency, giving users responsive performance and multi-day battery life.

Consumers and enterprise users will be empowered by groundbreaking on-device AI experiences with a 45 TOPS NPU that brings Copilot+ to more devices. Snapdragon X Plus 8-core will be available from Acer, ASUS, Dell Technologies, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung, with select devices available for purchase today.

The Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus laptops on the market mostly cost above $1000 US but Qualcomm is changing that with the 8-core models which will start at $799 US and deliver the same 45 AI TOPS that are featured on the top chips while retaining decent performance & battery timings.

In terms of specifications, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus "X1P-42-100" & X1P-46-100" feature eight Oryon CPU cores based on a 4nm process node. The cores are segmented into two clusters with one of the clusters. The max single and multi-core boost clocks are rated at 3.4 & 3.2 GHz for the lower-end model and 3.4 & 4.0 GHz for the higher-end model. The CPU packs 30 MB of total cache with each cluster offering 12 MB of L2 cache.

On the GPU side, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus 8-Core CPUs feature the Adreno X1-45 GPU as an integrated chip which features 2.1 and 1.7 TFLOPs compute respectively. The higher-end 10 and 12-core variants feature 3.8 and up to 4.6 TFLOPs of compute. Both models retain LPDDR5x DRAM support with 8448 MT/s speeds and the NPU delivers 45 TOPS of AI compute.

In terms of performance, Qualcomm compares the Snapdragon X Plus 8-Core CPU against entry-level chips such as the Ryzen 7 8840U, Ryzen 5 8640U, Core Ultra 7 155U & the Core Ultra 5 125U. The CPUs are compared in CPU and GPU workloads such as Geekbench and 3DMark Wildlife and Qualcomm is showcasing some hefty performance increases however, real-world benchmarks do paint a different story as we have reported here for the 8-core parts.

The one correct thing however is that if Qualcomm can manage to put out a good number of Copilot+ "AI PC" offerings that are indeed priced at $799 US, then this would make the Snapdragon X Plus 8-Core the most affordable option with 45 TOPS since as of right now, all the competing PCs are priced above $1000 US. The entry-level Hawk Point and Meteor Lake options don't offer TOPS on the same level as Snapdragon X's 45 AI TOPS.

The company also shared battery times claiming up to 2x longer battery life than the competition in a range of workloads such as Teams Video calls. For everyday office or home use, having higher battery time is as essential as it gets since nobody wants their devices connected all the time to a power source when OTG.

Lastly, Qualcomm makes an official comparison between its Snapdragon X Plus 8-Core and the Apple M2 (MacBook Air) platform, showcasing higher performance in Geekbench (MT) & Procyon while highlighting some of the major platform advantages over Apple's solutions such as WiFi 7, 5G (Optional), Bluetooth 56.4, higher memory bandwidth, more USB4 ports, more external monitor support and AV1 Video (Encode/Decode).

The first Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus 8-Core laptops will be available today from leading OEMs including ACER, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung at the aforementioned $799 US starting price points.