Qualcomm Unveils Snapdragon X Plus for Laptops

In an anticipated move following recent leaks, Qualcomm has officially introduced the Snapdragon X Plus platform for laptops. Positioned as a step down from the Snapdragon X Elite, this new platform boasts a 10-core Oryon CPU, clocked at speeds of up to 3.4 GHz (compared to the 12-core configuration of the Elite), and supports up to 64GB of RAM with 135 GB/s bandwidth.

One of the standout features of the X Plus is its 45 TOPS (trillion operations per second) Neural Processing Unit (NPU), which Qualcomm touts as the world’s fastest NPU for laptops. The company asserts that the X Plus will deliver exceptional performance, long battery life, and industry-leading on-device AI capabilities.

During the unveiling, Qualcomm showcased several demonstrations highlighting the platform’s AI capabilities. These included code generation in Visual Studio Code using Codegen, music generation in Audacity with Riffusion, and live captions in OBS Studio using Whisper, all powered by on-device AI.

Laptops equipped with the Snapdragon X Plus (as well as the X Elite) are expected to hit the market from leading global OEMs around the middle of the year.

The Oryon CPU in the X Plus promises 37% faster performance compared to some unnamed competitors, while consuming up to 54% less power. Additionally, the chip supports LPDDR5x memory, features 42MB total cache, and is built on a 4nm process. The platform supports up to three external displays at 4K HDR resolution (at a maximum refresh rate of 60 Hz), Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, an advanced camera Image Signal Processor (ISP), and immersive lossless audio.

Qualcomm Technologies aims to make powerful Snapdragon technology more accessible with the introduction of the Snapdragon X Plus compute platform, extending their AI PC offerings with a focus on affordability and efficiency for next-generation AI PCs.