Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus SoCs for Windows laptops are official with up to 10 cores, 35% better CPU performance, and more
CES 2026Qualcomm took the warps off the next-gen Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme ARM SoCs for Windows laptops back in September 2025. The new SoCs feature third-gen Oryon CPUs, a powerful Adreno X2-85/90 iGPU, and a new Hexagon NPU with 80 TOPS of performance. As expected, Qualcomm has more Snapdragon X2 SKUs for thin-and-light Windows laptops that don’t need a lot of power.
At CES 2026, Qualcomm has announced the 6-core Snapdragon X2 Plus X2P-42-100 and the 10-core Snapdragon X2 Plus X2P-64-100 SoCs. Both chips share the same architecture as the Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme, but offer weaker CPUs and less powerful iGPUs.
Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus specifications
Starting with the CPU, the Snapdragon X2 Plus X2P-42-100 and X2P-64-100 feature 6 and 10 Nuvia CPU cores, respectively. The more powerful 10-core Snapdragon X2 Plus features 6 Prime Cores and 4 Performance cores, while the 6-core Snapdragon X2 Plus SoC only has 6 Prime Cores. Both SoCs boast the same single-core max clock speed of 4.04 GHz for the Prime Cores. The max multi-core frequency is reportedly 4 GHz. The total cache amount of the 10-core Snapdragon X2 Plus and the 6-core Snapdragon X2 Plus stands at 34 MB and 22 MB, respectively.
Looking at the iGPU, both Snapdragon X2 Plus SoCs feature an X2-45 Adreno iGPU. The iGPU is clocked higher at 1.7 GHz in the 10-core X2P-64-100, while the the 6-core X2P-42-100's iGPU is only clocked at 0.9 GHz. Like its bigger sibling, the X2-90, the Adreno X2-45 has support for DirectX 12.2 Ultimate, Vulcan 1.4, and OpenCL 3.0.
Finally, both Snapdragon X2 Plus SKUs support up to 128 GB of LPDDR5x-9523 memory while featuring a 128-bit wide bus, and 152 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Other notable specs include connectivity options like Wi-Fi 7/BT 5.4, support for up to three Type-C ports, and the ability to drive up to three 4K/144 Hz displays simultaneously.
Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus CPU and GPU performance
Qualcomm made a lot of claims regarding the performance of the Snapdragon X2 Elite and the X2 Elite Extreme back in September 2025. The company is doing the same with the Snapdragon X2 Plus SoCs. If these first-party performance promises are accurate, the Snapdragon X2 Plus will give the Intel Panther Lake CPUs a tough time.
Qualcomm claims that the 10-core Snapdragon X2 Plus X2P-64-100 rocks 35% better single-core and 17% faster multi-core performance than the 10-core first-gen Snapdragon X Plus based on Geekbench 6.5 results. The Adreno X2-45 iGPU is reportedly 29% faster than last-gen in 3DMark Steel Nomad Light benchmark. For the NPU, Qualcomm claims a massive 78% gen-on-gen performance gain.
The 6-core Snapdragon X2 Plus boasts the same single-core performance gain as the 10-core part, while enjoying a 10% multi-core and a sizeable 39% GPU performance improvement over the Snapdragon X Plus.
Qualcomm is also claiming some significant wins compared to similarly positioned AMD and Intel CPUs. For instance, the company claims that the 10-core Snapdragon X2 Plus is around 3.5x faster than Core Ultra 7 265U in Geekbench 6.5 at “ISO power” and has 28% better peak single-core performance. The Snapdragon X2 Plus X2P-64-100 is also said to be much more power efficient, as the Core Ultra 7 265U requires 4.6x more power to hits its peak performance.
For multi-core, Qualcomm boasts an incredible 50% better multi-core peak performance vs the Intel Core Ultra 7 265U.
Laptops utilizing the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus SoCs are expected to hit store shelves in H1 2026. As such, we expect to see a bunch of different Snapdragon-based Windows laptops showcased at CES 2026.
Buy the Microsoft Surface Laptop (2024) with Snapdragon X Elite on Amazon
Source(s)
Qualcomm
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