First Snapdragon X Elite benchmarks: Impressive gains over M2 Max, Ryzen 9 7940HS, Intel 13th gen-H, and 14th gen desktop CPUs

Now, let's take a first look at reference performance numbers for the 80 W and 23 W X Elite configs. Right off the bat, we see that the Snapdragon X Elite 80 W and 23 W can actually take on an Intel Core i5-14600K in single-core Geekbench 6.2 tests. The 80 W X Elite leads the Apple M2 Max by 10% while the 23 W variant just manages to inch past Apple's leading ARM chip.

Both the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS average and the Core i9-13900H average trail the 80 W X Elite by 12% in Geekbench 6.2 single-core.

Similarly, Cinebench 2024 single-core sees the X Elite 80 W right on the heels of the Core i9-14900K while the X Elite 23 W isn't too far behind. Thus, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Snapdragon X Elite's single-core performance can rival the best of current offerings from Intel, AMD, and Apple.

The Snapdragon X Elite offers 12 performance cores with a max dual-core boost of up to 4.3 GHz. There are no efficiency cores in this SoC. The 80 W Elite's multi-core performance in Geekbench 6.2 rivals that of the Apple M2 Max while the 23 W variant is within striking distance.

The X Elite's reliance on performance cores alone seems to confer even the 23 W variant with decent Geekbench 6.2 multi-core leads of 6% and 16% over much more powerful offerings such as the Core i9-13900H average and the Ryzen 9 7940HS average, respectively.

While Geekbench 6.2 multi-core shows only an 8% performance difference between the 80 W and 23 W X Elites, this delta widens to about 22% in Cinebench 2024 multi. Still, we see that the 23 W X Elite can lead the Ryzen 7 7840HS by 4% and the Core i7-13620H by 37%. With the 80 W X Elite, this lead can be as high as 77%.

Being a Windows platform, the natural question is how effective would Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptops be for gaming? Qualcomm didn't have a particular answer to this, except that it notes things will eventually depend on Microsoft to allow for decent emulation of popular Windows titles.

The company did indicate that they are pushing for native ARM games and showed off Control, Baldur's Gate 3, Farming Simulator 22, Minecraft, and other titles coming to the platform.

Qualcomm also demoed a non-ARM version of Davinci Resolve 18 that is able to leverage the X Elite's NPU to apply a Magic Mask 2x faster than the x86 version of the program. Davinci Resolve will offer a native ARM app for Windows in 2024.

Overall, we see that the Snapdragon X Elite has excellent potential — one that the Windows on ARM platform has been sorely longing for all these years. However, benchmark numbers are only one part of the larger puzzle.

Laptops powered by the X Elite are expected to arrive only in 2024. Apple is expected to introduce the M3 SoC at tomorrow's Scary Fast event, which in all likelihood will further increase the performance gap with Qualcomm's offering.

Interestingly, Qualcomm alludes to "Windows OS" in the footnotes instead of specifying Windows 11. This indicates that Microsoft is indeed working on a proper Windows 12 release next year that would offer enhanced support for ARM SoCs.

Microsoft has to get its act together on the software side of things as one of the main reasons why Windows on ARM didn't quite take off was limited app support and the general notion, "if it's Windows, it should be able to run my favorite program from 20 years ago". Microsoft would do best to shed the legacy image of Windows with Windows on ARM vNext and improve compatibility with modern x64 and native ARM apps either via the Store or standalone installs.

All said and done, it is finally good to see Qualcomm stepping up its game. Hopefully, OEMs will offer compelling designs next year that can take on Apple's best.

Slides from the media briefing are embedded below.

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