Qualcomm’s next-gen PC processors to compete with Apple officially named Snapdragon X Series
Building on the forthcoming Oryon CPU, the Snapdragon X chips will create ‘an inflection point for the PC industry.’
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What you need to know
Just a few weeks before officially unveiling its next-gen PC processors, Qualcomm announced the name of its newest PC platform:Snapdragon X Series.
Snapdragon X Series features Qualcomm’s in-house built Oryon CPU, created by the Nuvia team of ex-Apple engineers that Qualcommacquired in early 2021 for $1.4 billion. That processor,named last year, is not an Arm Ltd design, which is what its previousSnapdragon 8cx platformwas based on.
In late 2021,Qualcomm claimedthis new processor is “designed to set the performance benchmark for Windows PCs” and will be an “M-series competitive solution for the PC.”
Indeed, a recentreport from SemiAccurateclaims Oryon CPUs perform “slightly more than the Apple M2 cores,” which currently power Apple’s MacBook and MacBook Pro laptop portfolio. Apple, however, is expected to release itsM3 series of CPUseither later this year or early 2024.
Nonetheless, a PC processor that can beat Apple’s M2 in power and efficiency would be a massive win for the Windows PC industry and an excellent start for Qualcomm’s efforts in the laptop market.
In addition to the Oryon CPU, the heart of the Snapdragon X Series, Qualcomm also includes its GPU solution and NPU, which “will deliver accelerated on-device user experiences for the new era of generative AI.”
Microsoft’srumored Windows 12 OS refresh, anticipated for fall 2024, focuses significantly on AI and will be a good launch pad for Qualcomm’s new PC platform. That OS alsodrops Arm32 app supportin favor of Arm64.
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Why Snapdragon X Series and when?
As to how Qualcomm decided on the name Snapdragon X, the company explained in its press release:
We won’t have to wait long to learn about the details of Oryon and Snapdragon X Series chips as the company is hosting its annualSnapdragon Summit from October 24 through the 26th in Maui.
Details about performance, efficiency, and some reference design laptops powered by the next-gen chip will be revealed. We will also likely hear of PC launch partners, possibly from HP, Lenovo, Dell, and others expected to have new Windows laptops featuring Snapdragon X Series. However, consumers won’t get onto such PCs until sometime in 2024, when they hit mass production.
Combined with Intel’s latestMeteor Lake announcement, the Windows laptop landscape 2024 will be very interesting, competitive, and a likely challenge to Apple.
Windows Central will be at the Snapdragon Summit on October 24-26 to cover the unveiling of the new processors.
Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer,podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.
