Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G for Laptops

Qualcomm today announced the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G compute platform, a mobile processor for high-end, fanless ARM-based devices. The announcement was made at IFA in Berlin, where Qualcomm president Cristiano Amon gave a virtual keynote speech. 

Qualcomm claims the chip, which has a 7W TDP, allows for 18% stronger system performance than a 15W 10th Gen Core i5 Ice Lake processor and up to 51% more than a Hybrid Core i5 with a 7W TDP, referring to Intel’s Lakefield processor. Qualcomm also said the new Snapdragon offers up to 39% more productivity per watt than the 10th Gen Core i5 and 58% more than Lakefield. The company didn’t offer up any further specifications, including clock speeds or numbers of cores and threads.

Some of the benefits that Qualcomm is touting, like multi-day battery life, are similar to what we’ve heard before. It is also pushing the Qualcomm AI Engine, which can power experiences like the AI-powered eye contact feature on the Microsoft Surface Pro X, which makes it appear that you are looking at the webcam and not the screen.

Additionally, it supports up to 4K HDR cameras (up to 32 megapixels), HDR video capture and Playback, and dual 4K60 monitor support.

And, of course, there’s 5G connectivity. The 8cx Gen 2 will support both Sub-6 GHz and mmWave technology.

Qualcomm has Acer as its first partner, and the 8cx Gen 2 will debut in the Acer Spin 7. No pricing or availability has been announced.