Qualcomm has teased their next generation lineup of processors, dubbed Snapdragon X. It’s an all new platform that they claim will be ‘revolutionizing the next generation of PC experiences’, with the Snapdragon X series likely set to power future Windows laptops in direct competition with MacBooks powered by Apple Silicon.
Snapdragon X has been in the pipeline for several years now. Qualcomm had originally acquired Nuvia, a plucky startup founded by a group of ex-Apple engineers, back in 2021 and since then they’ve been working on Qualcomm’s own custom CPU called the Qualcomm Oryon. Qualcomm first teased the Oryon CPU late last year, claiming that it’ll bring a ‘best-in-class’ experience, and while they haven’t given too much away they do still seem confident on that claim.
According to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon X series comes as a result of their years of experience in building heterogeneous compute architectures across the CPU, GPU and NPU. And thanks to their next generation custom Qualcomm Oryon CPU inside Snapdragon X processors, they believe it will bring a ‘quantum leap forward’ in both performance and power efficiency. Furthermore, when partnered with their NPUs, Snapdragon X will also bring accelerated on-device user experiences when it comes to generative AI. We can expect Snapdragon X to come with 5G connectivity too, something that Apple has yet to do on their laptops, even though their tablets powered by M-series chips do have 5G connectivity.
Qualcomm also explained the reasoning behind the Snapdragon X naming scheme, stating that the ‘X’ identifier distinguishes it from other Snapdragon products, and will come with brand new logos and platform badges building on the classic Snapdragon fireball logo but with a twist. There will also be a clear and simplified tiering structure in place that would help customers easily understand the Snapdragon X lineup capabilities.
Introducing the brand new #Snapdragon X Series. Learn more: https://t.co/NOgiutc9Zu pic.twitter.com/79zx4guGkX
— Snapdragon (@Snapdragon) October 10, 2023
One thing’s for sure though: we’ll be learning a lot more about Snapdragon X by the end of the month. Qualcomm is scheduled to have their annual Snapdragon Summit in Maui, Hawaii this year from 24 to 26 October, where we should know everything there is to know about the Snapdragon X series by then, from performance to efficiency as well as who will be the first manufacturers to adopt Snapdragon X series chips, with Snapdragon X-powered laptops likely debuting next year.
