Qualcomm has taken another big step in making Windows on ARM laptops feel truly mainstream. At CES, the company introduced the Snapdragon X2 Plus, a new laptop chip designed to push performance, power efficiency, and on-device AI far beyond what earlier Windows on ARM systems could deliver.
The Snapdragon X2 Plus arrives in two versions: a 10-core model (X2P-64-100) and a 6-core model (X2P-42-100). Both are built on a modern 3nm process, a key reason Qualcomm is able to improve performance while keeping power draw low—something that matters a lot for thin-and-light laptops aiming for long battery life.
On the graphics side, both variants use the same Adreno X2-45 GPU. Qualcomm says the new Adreno setup delivers up to a 29% uplift over the previous generation, while also bringing support for current graphics technologies and APIs such as DX12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, OpenCL 3.0, Adreno High Performance Memory (HPM), and additional ray tracing improvements. In practical terms, that points to smoother creative workloads, better acceleration in GPU-aware apps, and stronger gaming potential compared to earlier Snapdragon laptop chips.
Memory support is another highlight. Snapdragon X2 Plus supports up to 128GB of LPDDR5x with transfer speeds up to 9523 MT/s over a 128-bit interface, enabling as much as 152 GB/s of memory bandwidth. That’s an important spec for productivity, AI tasks, and heavier multitasking—especially as more laptops target creators and advanced “AI PC” workflows.
The biggest attention-getter, though, is AI performance. Qualcomm is positioning Snapdragon X2 Plus as a leader in on-device AI with up to 80 TOPS of NPU compute. The company says this is the fastest NPU platform on laptops, aiming to make “edge AI” tasks faster and more practical without relying on cloud processing. This focus aligns closely with the direction of Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC category, where AI features and local acceleration are becoming core selling points.
Under the hood, Qualcomm credits major gains to its 3rd-generation Oryon CPU cores paired with an upgraded Hexagon NPU. According to Qualcomm’s own figures, Snapdragon X2 Plus delivers up to 35% higher single-core performance and up to 78% higher NPU performance compared to the Snapdragon X Plus series, while using 43% less power. If those claims hold up in shipping laptops, it’s exactly the kind of generational leap Windows on ARM needs to expand beyond early adopters.
Qualcomm is also taking direct aim at established x86 competitors. The company compares the 10-core Snapdragon X2 Plus against AMD’s Strix Point Ryzen AI 7 350, claiming 28% higher peak performance. It also claims a large advantage versus Intel’s Lunar Lake Core Ultra 7 265U, stating Snapdragon X2 Plus can deliver 3.5 times higher performance at the same ISO power.
AI benchmarks are another area where Qualcomm says the chip stands out. With the new Hexagon NPU, Snapdragon X2 Plus is presented as leading results in tests like UL Procyon AI CV Score and Geekbench AI, outperforming Strix Point and Lunar Lake equivalents by as much as 6.4 times in certain comparisons. While real-world experiences will depend on software optimization and the specific AI workloads being used, the message is clear: Qualcomm wants Windows on ARM laptops to be the obvious choice for anyone who cares about on-device AI speed.
Battery life is also part of the story. Qualcomm is promoting “multi-day” battery life for the Snapdragon X2 Plus platform, though it didn’t share exact numbers. Even without official figures, the emphasis makes sense: performance-per-watt is where ARM-based laptop chips can shine, and it’s also one of the easiest benefits for everyday buyers to feel.
Overall, Snapdragon X2 Plus looks like a serious attempt to make Windows on ARM laptops more competitive across the metrics people actually care about—speed, responsiveness, AI features, graphics capability, and battery life. With a big jump in NPU performance and solid gains in CPU and GPU workloads, Qualcomm’s newest laptop chip could help push the next wave of Copilot+ PCs into a more compelling position against the latest AMD and Intel options.
