Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme is the company’s most ambitious laptop chip yet, and it delivers the kind of performance leap that puts Windows on ARM squarely in the spotlight. But even with those gains, it still trails Apple’s M4 Max in raw speed, at least in Cinebench 2024.
In a Qualcomm reference laptop, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme posts a single‑thread score of 162 and a multi‑thread score of 1,968 in Cinebench 2024. A retail laptop with Apple’s M4 Max comes in higher, at 179 for single‑thread and 2,025 for multi‑thread. That’s roughly a 9.5% advantage for Apple in single‑thread and about 2.8% in multi‑thread. It’s a narrow gap, and an impressive showing for Qualcomm considering this is only its second generation of laptop silicon.
The results also underscore a familiar lesson: clock speeds don’t tell the whole story. Architectural efficiency and sustained performance matter, and that’s exactly where both of these ARM designs are pushing the envelope.
Where Qualcomm really turns heads is against current x86 rivals. Based on widely referenced tests:
– Versus AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme shows about a 34% average lead in single‑thread and roughly 55% in multi‑thread.
– Versus Intel’s Core Ultra 9 288V, it’s up around 31% in single‑thread and a massive 234% in multi‑thread.
Those numbers paint a clear picture: in today’s ultrathin laptop space, ARM-based designs are setting the pace while many x86 offerings struggle to keep up in the same power envelope.
Does that mean ARM has an uncontested lead from here on out? Not necessarily. Both Intel and AMD have next-gen mobile platforms in the pipeline—names like Panther Lake and Medusa Point are already on the horizon. The real showdown will come when those land. Still, the generational jump Qualcomm achieved from its first laptop chips to the X2 family signals a rapid cadence of improvement. If that momentum continues, traditional PC players will have to move quickly to defend performance leadership.
Bottom line: Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme doesn’t dethrone Apple’s M4 Max, but it does tighten the race at the top of the ARM laptop stack and decisively outmuscles many current x86 competitors. For anyone watching Windows on ARM, this is the most compelling proof yet that the platform is ready for prime time—and the next round of mobile CPU battles is going to be fierce.
