Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon X Plus 8-core CPU ahead of IFA 2024 in Berlin. This new chipset is an economical variant of Qualcomm’s 10-core Arm-based laptop processors introduced earlier this year, utilizing the same 4nm process technology. It features the same Oryon CPU cores as the other X series processors and supports on-device AI applications and features.
The octa-core Snapdragon X Plus chipset includes eight Oryon CPU cores with a 30MB CPU cache, which is 12MB less than the higher-end X Plus chips. It supports up to 64GB of LPDDR5X RAM. The X1P-42-100 variant offers a peak clock speed of 3.2GHz with a 1.7 TFLOPS Adreno GPU, while the X1P-46-100 variant has a peak clock speed of 3.4GHz and a 2.1 TFLOPS GPU.
The Adreno GPU on the Snapdragon X Plus 8-core processors supports up to three external 4K displays at a 60Hz refresh rate. The Qualcomm Hexagon NPU can handle 45 trillion operations per second (TOPS) for on-device AI features in compatible applications. The chipset supports PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD or UFS 4.0 storage and up to 36-megapixel cameras with 4K HDR video capture via the Spectra ISP.
The Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF system provides support for mmWave and Sub-6GHz 5G networks, with download speeds up to 10Gbps. The Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 system offers Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 support. Laptops equipped with this chipset can have up to three USB 4.0 ports.
Qualcomm claims the Snapdragon X Plus 8-core chipset delivers up to twice the battery life of the Intel Core Ultra 7 155U processor. Its performance against Apple’s M2 chip remains to be seen. Devices powered by this chipset will be available from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung, with prices starting at $799 (approximately Rs. 67,100).
