Qualcomm Takes Another Shot at Laptop Dominance
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chips genuinely surprised the PC market in 2024-2025, delivering competitive performance with exceptional battery life in a growing number of Windows-on-ARM laptops. Now, Qualcomm is preparing its next-generation PC processor: the Snapdragon X2. Based on confirmed announcements, industry filings, and partner briefings reported by reliable supply chain sources, here is a comprehensive breakdown of everything known about Qualcomm’s next PC chip.
Architecture: Oryon Gen 3 Cores
The Snapdragon X2 will be built around Qualcomm’s third-generation custom Oryon CPU cores — a significant architectural revision from the Oryon Gen 2 cores in the Snapdragon X Elite. Qualcomm has confirmed the Oryon Gen 3 is designed on TSMC’s 3nm N3P process with a target IPC (instructions per clock) improvement of 22% over Oryon Gen 2. The core configuration for the flagship Snapdragon X2 variant is reportedly 16 high-performance Oryon cores with a maximum boost clock of 4.6 GHz — compared to the X Elite’s 12 cores at 3.8 GHz peak. This architectural and frequency improvement targets single-threaded performance that can finally match Intel’s Core Ultra 200 series and AMD’s Ryzen AI 400 series on productivity benchmarks.
GPU: Adreno 850 with Hardware Ray Tracing
The integrated graphics on the Snapdragon X2 will use the Adreno 850 GPU — the same architecture present in the mobile Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 but with a significantly wider execution unit configuration suited to the laptop thermal envelope. Crucially, the Adreno 850 in the Snapdragon X2 will be the first Qualcomm integrated PC GPU with hardware-accelerated DirectX 12 Ultimate ray tracing support — a feature that Intel’s Arc integrated graphics added in 2024 but that Qualcomm’s Adreno GPU has lacked until now. Hardware ray tracing enables more realistic lighting and reflection in compatible games and 3D applications without the software-based performance penalty of emulation.
NPU: 75 TOPS for Windows AI Features
Microsoft requires a minimum 40 TOPS NPU for “Copilot+ PC” certification. The Snapdragon X2’s Hexagon NPU delivers 75 TOPS — nearly double the minimum and significantly above Intel’s current Meteor Lake NPU at 34 TOPS. This headroom allows Qualcomm to run more simultaneous AI workloads on-device: live translation, background removal in video calls, AI photo enhancement, and Microsoft Copilot AI features all running concurrently without system slowdown. The 75 TOPS figure also provides future-proofing as Microsoft continues expanding Windows’ AI-dependent features in upcoming Windows 12 preview builds.
Memory and Storage: LPDDR5X and PCIe Gen 5
The Snapdragon X2 supports LPDDR5X RAM at speeds up to 9,600 Mbps — a 33% improvement in memory bandwidth over the X Elite — which directly benefits GPU-intensive workloads and large language model inference tasks that are memory-bandwidth-limited. Storage connectivity is upgraded to PCIe Gen 5 NVMe, enabling SSD read speeds above 12,000 MB/s in compatible configurations. Available RAM configurations will be 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB depending on the laptop SKU, all soldered on-package in Qualcomm’s SoC design philosophy.
Launch Partners and Expected Price Points
Qualcomm has confirmed partnerships with Samsung, Dell, Lenovo, HP, ASUS, and Microsoft for Snapdragon X2-based laptops launching in Q4 2026. The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 5 and Microsoft Surface Pro 12 are expected to be among the first commercially available Snapdragon X2 devices. Entry-level Snapdragon X2 Plus laptops are expected to start around $999 USD (approximately Rs 83,000) — positioning them competitively against equivalent Intel Core Ultra and AMD Ryzen AI-powered laptops at similar performance tiers. For ongoing Snapdragon X2 updates and Windows-on-ARM coverage, follow Android People.