Qualcomm’s push into Windows laptops didn’t stop with Snapdragon X Elite. The company is already lining up its next wave of PC silicon, and early testing suggests the Snapdragon X2 Elite could be a serious step forward—sometimes even outperforming Apple’s M5 while using only slightly more power.
A set of fresh benchmark results from Hardware Canucks comes from an ASUS Zenbook running a pre-production Snapdragon X2 Elite system. That detail matters: early drivers and firmware can heavily influence performance, so these numbers shouldn’t be treated as final. Even so, the results paint a clear picture of what Qualcomm is aiming for in the premium Windows on Arm laptop market.
In these tests, the Snapdragon X2 Elite was configured to run at 31W. That’s only about 5W higher than the M5’s 26W ceiling, yet Qualcomm’s chip still managed to win 3 out of 5 benchmarks. More notably, it consistently outpaced the original Snapdragon X Elite by a wide margin, showing a meaningful generational leap rather than a minor refresh.
Here’s how the benchmark results break down.
Cinebench 2024 (single-core)
Snapdragon X2 Elite: 146 (35.2% faster than Snapdragon X Elite)
Snapdragon X Elite: 108
M5: 200 (37% faster than Snapdragon X2 Elite)
Cinebench 2024 (multi-core)
Snapdragon X2 Elite: 1,432 (24.2% faster than M5, 48.7% faster than Snapdragon X Elite)
Snapdragon X Elite: 963
M5: 1,153
Blender 5.01 (lower is better)
Snapdragon X2 Elite: 3:31
Snapdragon X Elite: 5:24
M5: 5:33
HandBrake (lower is better)
Snapdragon X2 Elite: 3:29
Snapdragon X Elite: 5:32
M5: 5:14
DaVinci Resolve 20.3 (lower is better)
Snapdragon X2 Elite: 22:06
Snapdragon X Elite: 33:16
M5: 09:43
What stands out is the split personality of these results. On pure single-core CPU performance, the M5 remains comfortably ahead—important for apps and tasks that lean on single-thread speed. But in multi-core workloads, Snapdragon X2 Elite pulls ahead, and it also dominates in Blender and HandBrake, which are meaningful indicators for creators working with 3D rendering and video encoding.
DaVinci Resolve is the big exception, where M5 finishes far faster. That’s a reminder that creative workloads can be heavily dependent on software optimization, GPU acceleration paths, and platform-specific tuning. With this Zenbook being a pre-production unit on early software, there’s room for change on the Windows side—but it also highlights that Apple’s hardware-software integration is still a major strength in certain pro apps.
Battery life is the other missing piece. No battery tests were provided, largely because pre-production firmware and ongoing Windows 11 updates can skew power efficiency in either direction. Real-world endurance will ultimately decide how compelling Snapdragon X2 Elite laptops are for everyday buyers who care about unplugged performance, standby behavior, and consistency across updates.
Even with those caveats, the early story is hard to ignore: Snapdragon X2 Elite appears to be a substantial upgrade over Snapdragon X Elite, and it’s already competitive with Apple’s latest silicon in several key benchmarks while operating at only a small power advantage. If final retail systems ship with mature drivers, improved scheduling, and stronger app support, Qualcomm’s next-gen Windows on Arm laptops could become some of the most interesting thin-and-light machines arriving later this year.
