Perhaps the most exciting part of the chip is the graphics performance: the Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme both use a new Adreno GPU architecture. Qualcomm says power efficiency has improved by 2.3X, so hopefully that means these laptops can scale up performance when it’s needed, in games or creative applications.
Lastly, the company claims there’s a much more powerful Neural Processing Unit (NPU) with 80 TOPS (Trillions of Operations Per Second) of on-device AI processing performance. The Snapdragon X set the initial bar with 50 TOPS, which Apple, Intel, and AMD then had to match in their next chips. We’ve yet to see the explosion of on-device AI processing be relevant for the average person, but hopefully, more performance will provide an incentive for developers to build more unique AI experiences that can utilize the NPU.
Qualcomm boasts “multi-day” battery life on these new chips, though performance was the priority in the company’s product presentation. This is a change from the original marketing around the first-generation Snapdragon X chips, which centered battery life as its primary selling point.
As always, it helps to go first. These second-generation PC chips have been announced months ahead of devices from competitors, which may not arrive until the first quarter of 2026, making it easier to compare with previous-gen chips. Intel is expected to launch its highly anticipated A18 chips (also known as Panther Lake) later this year, and Nvidia’s $5 billion investment in Intel could change everything in the world of PCs. Apple is also expected to debut an M5 chip next month.
A New Smartphone Chip
Alongside new PC chips, Qualcomm also detailed its recently announced mobile chips, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. These were officially unveiled last week, but at the company’s Snapdragon Summit conference, it shared new details on how these chips will perform.
Barely a week has gone by since Apple’s A19-powered iPhones hit the market, but Qualcomm is already claiming that its Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 is the “fastest mobile CPU in the world,” with a record clock speed of 4.6 GHz (Apple’s A19 Pro has a clock speed of 4.26 GHz). Like the PC chips, graphics and AI processing have the largest leaps in performance, with a purported 23 percent faster GPU and 37 percent faster NPU. Some slightly faster single-core performance in your next phone might not be noticeable, but the significantly faster GPU could have a bigger impact on mobile gaming.
The other significant new feature on these mobile chips is the embrace of a new video codec called Advanced Professional Video, or APV. This is a “near-lossless” codec created by Samsung meant to compete with Apple’s ProRes format, and uses less storage than current options.
Qualcomm says new phones powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 will launch “in the coming days,” with entries from Xiaomi, OnePlus, Samsung, Honor, and Xiaomi.
AI, 6G, and the Future of Android
During the Snapdragon Summit keynote, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon drew the biggest applause with the mention of 6G as the future connectivity standard, replacing 5G, enabling a more pervasive AI future. “6G is designed to be the connection between the cloud and edge devices,” he said.
