Today marks the launch of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X CPUs which marks the beginning of the Microsoft Copilot+ AI PC era.
First Microsoft Copilot+ AI PCs Are Here! And Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X CPUs Are Powering The New Era
Ever since Qualcomm announced its Snapdragon X Elite CPUs for Windows AI PCs, they have taken the market by storm. The Arm-based chips are poised to give some heated competition to others in the space such as Apple, Intel, and AMD.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X platform isn’t just targeting leadership in terms of AI performance but they are also the first fully Microsoft Copilot+ compliant platform, offering out-of-the-box support for the latest AI features that will only be incorporated by competitors in later updates. Some of the features include the likes of Microsoft’s Auto SR, an automatic super-resolution technology, that can help bring faster performance to gamers running these Copilot+ PCs. These PCs will also host a range of other AI-boosted technologies that will make them stand out from the rest.
According to Microsoft themselves, the first Copilot+ PCs will start at $999 US and the OEM list is very expansive including the likes of OEM partners such as ACER, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung & Microsoft itself.
Qualcomm has so far officially introduced a total of four variants based around its brand new Oryon (ARM) CPU and Adreno GPU architectures which are positioned in the Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus portfolio. These chips feature up to 12 cores, 42 MB of cache, up to 4.2 GHz clock speeds, up to 45 AI TOPS, and support for LPDDR5x-8448 memory while supporting a wide TDP range of 23W and up to 80W.
Qualcomm Snapdragon X CPU Lineup:
| CPU Name | Cores | Cache | 2-Core Boost / All-Core Boost | GPU TFLOPs | NPU TOPs | Memory Support | TDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| X1E-84-100 | 12 | 42 MB | 4.2 – 3.8 GHz | 4.6 TFLOPs | 45 AI TOPS | LPDDR5x-8448 | 23-80W |
| X1E-80-100 | 12 | 42 MB | 4.0 – 3.4 GHz | 3.8 TFLOPs | 45 AI TOPS | LPDDR5x-8448 | 23-80W |
| X1E-78-100 | 12 | 42 MB | N/A – 3.4 GHz | 3.8 TFLOPs | 45 AI TOPS | LPDDR5x-8448 | 23-80W |
| X1P-64-100 | 10 | 42 MB | N/A – 3.4 GHz | 3.8 TFLOPs | 45 AI TOPS | LPDDR5x-8448 | 10-20W |
Following are some of the Microsoft Copilot+ PCs featuring the Qualcomm Snapdragon X CPU line:
The Qualcomm Snapdragon X platform will be going up against AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 “Strix Point” and Intel’s Core Ultra 200 “Lunar Lake” CPUs in the third quarter of 2024. Expect some heated competition in the laptop AI PC “Microsoft Copilot+” segment as we enter the holiday season.