Qualcomm recently announced the Snapdragon X Elite, a new 4nm processor that brings the company's latest Arm-based Oryon cores to laptops. Qualcomm also held a private event with members of the press and analysts to offer a preview of the Snapdragon X Elite's power and how it stacks up against current chips from Intel, AMD, and Apple.
For the demonstration, Qualcomm prepared two Snapdragon X Elite reference designs. The contrasting configurations reflect the kind of systems consumers can expect to find the Snapdragon X Elite in when the devices hit the retail market in the middle of 2024. Configuration A possesses the specifications you can expect from a high-performance laptop; meanwhile, configuration B is in the realm of thin-and-lights.
Configuration A features the Snapdragon X Elite with a dual-core and all-core boost clock of 4.3 GHz and 3.8 GHz, respectively. The test device, which is 16.8mm thick, sports a 16.5-inch LCD screen with a 3840x2160 resolution. The device has a TDP of 80W and an 87 WHr battery.
Meanwhile, configuration B has the Snapdragon X Elite with dual-core and all-core boost clock speeds slightly reduced to 4 GHz and 3.4 GHz, respectively. We're looking at a somewhat thinner device here, at 15mm, with a smaller 14.5-inch OLED screen with a 2880x1800 resolution. This system has a 23W TDP and a 58 Wh battery. Given the low TDP, Qualcomm could have gotten away with using a passive cooling system on configuration B. However, both demo systems used active cooling.
Snapdragon X Elite Specifications
| Processor | Cores | Base / Boost (GHz) | GPU | Memory Support | Process Node | TDP (W) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snapdragon X Elite | 12 (Oryon) | ? / 4.3 | Adreno | LPDDR5x-8533 | TSMC 4nm | ? |
| Ryzen 9 7940HS | 8 (Zen 4) | 4.0 / 5.2 | Radeon 780M (12 RDNA 3 CUs) | LPDDR5x-7500 | TSMC 4nm | 35 |
| Core i7-13800H | 6 (Raptor Cove) + 8 (Gracemont) | 2.5 / 5.2 | Iris Xe (96 EUs) | LPDDR5x-6400 | Intel 7 (10nm) | 45 |
| Apple M2 | 4 (Avalanche) + 4 (Blizzard) | ? / 3.49 | 10-Core GPU | LPDDR5x-6400 | TSMC 5nm | 22 |
Qualcomm compared the Snapdragon X Elite to a Core i7-13800H residing inside a 2023 Razer Blade 15 with an unlimited TDP, a Ryzen 9 7940HS from the 2023 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 at 80W, and an Apple M2 from the 2022 13-inch MacBook Pro. Qualcomm avoided a comparison against the flagship mobile Raptor Lake-H part, which is the Core i9-13900H. For some strange reason, the company didn't share any data for the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3, either. You would expect it to since the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 keeps Qualcomm in the laptop market right now.
The tests were performed without emulation, which saps performance. It compares Arm-native applications against x86 versions running on the other systems.
One aspect worth mentioning from Qualcomm's test systems is that they're equipped with LPDDR5X-8533, which gives the Snapdragon X Elite an edge over its rivals in some benchmarks. For comparison, the Core i7-13800H and Apple M2 support LPDDR5x-6400, while the Ryzen 9 7940HS natively embraces LPDDR5x-7500. Therefore, the Snapdragon X Elite has access to 33% higher memory bandwidth than the Core i7-13800H and Apple M2 and 14% over the Ryzen 9 7940HS.
Snapdragon X Elite CPU Benchmarks
| Processor | Geekbench 6.2 ST | Geekbench 6.2 MT | Cinebench 2024 ST | Cinebench 2024 MT | UL Procyon AI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snapdragon X Elite (Config. A) | 2,940 | 15,130 | 132 | 1,220 | 1,750 |
| Snapdragon X Elite (Config. B) | 2,780 | 14,000 | 122 | 950 | 1,750 |
| Apple M2 | 2,658 | 10,088 | 121 | 572 | N/A |
| Core i7-13800H | 2,755 | 14,342 | 115 | 996 | 232 |
| Ryzen 9 7940HS | 2,695 | 12,181 | 109 | 979 | 172 |
Starting with single-threaded performance, the Snapdragon X Elite (Config. A) outpaced the Core i7-13800H, Ryzen 9 7940HS, and Apple M2 by 7%, 9%, and 11%, respectively, in Geekbench 6.2. However, we saw higher margins on Cinebench 2024. The Snapdragon X Elite delivered up to 15%, 21%, and 9% higher single-threaded performance than the Core i7-13800H, Ryzen 9 7940HS, and Apple M2, respectively.
The Snapdragon X Elite (Config. A) continued to outperform the competition in the multi-threaded benchmarks. In Geekbench 6.2, the Snapdragon X Elite had 5%, 24%, and 50% higher scores than the Core i7-13800H, Ryzen 9 7940HS, and Apple M2, respectively. As for Cinebench 2023, the Snapdragon X Elite beat the Core i7-13800H by 22%, the Ryzen 9 7940HS by 25%, and the Apple M2 by 113%.
Qualcomm provided some AI performance results using the UL Procyon AI benchmark. The Snapdragon X Elite's Hexagon NPU promises up to 45 TOPS of performance regardless of the TDP, which is why both configurations showed identical AI performance. It's not surprising that the Hexagon NPU delivers up to 10X higher AI performance than the Intel and AMD chips.
Snapdragon X Elite iGPU Benchmarks
| Processor | Aztec Ruins | Wildlife Extreme |
|---|---|---|
| Snapdragon X Elite (Config. A) | 350 FPS | 44.5 FPS |
| Snapdragon X Elite (Config. B) | 295 FPS | 38.5 FPS |
| Apple M2 | 295 FPS | 40.8 FPS |
| Core i7-13800H | 177 FPS | 26.6 FPS |
| Ryzen 9 7940HS | 139 FPS | 28.9 FPS |
Qualcomm utilized GFXBench Aztec Ruins and 3DMark Wildlife Extreme to compare the Snapdragon X Elite's integrated graphics performance with the competition. We're not fond of Qualcomm's selection of graphics benchmarks because GFXBench and 3DMark Wildlife are more smartphone-oriented tests. But that's the caveat with vendor-provided benchmarks: The manufacturer typically chooses benchmarks where its product excels. So obviously, you'll want to take all these results with a healthy heaping of salty skepticism.
The Snapdragon X Elite flaunted significant leads over the Intel, AMD, and Apple chips. Configuration A pumped out 98%, 151%, and 19% higher frame rates over the Core i7-13800H, Ryzen 9 7940HS, and Apple M2, respectively, in Aztec Ruins. Meanwhile, configuration B is tied with the Apple M2. As for Wildlife Extreme, the Snapdragon X Elite surpassed the Core i7-13800H, Ryzen 9 7940HS, and Apple M2, with performance deltas of 67%, 54%, and 9%, respectively.
Snapdragon X Elite-equipped laptops won't arrive on the market until mid-2024. That's a long wait, and by the time the Snapdragon X Elite hits retail, it'll likely have to contend with a new generation of Intel, AMD, and Apple chips, such as mobile Raptor Lake Refresh, Strix Point, and the M3.
