Qualcomm releases official Snapdragon X Plus and Snapdragon X Elite benchmarks for 45 TOPS Hexagon NPU
Qualcomm has now provided what it describes as an 'architecture overview' of the Hexagon neural processing unit (NPU) that powers its Snapdragon X Plus and Snapdragon X Elite chipsets. For context, the chipset manufacturer officially debuted these chipsets a few weeks ago, albeit without sharing any benchmark results. Subsequently, OEMs like Dell, Lenovo, Microsoft and Samsung announced the first set of Snapdragon X-powered devices, an overview of which we have provided separately.
On top of that, Microsoft commissioned Signal65 to assess the Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100) powered Surface Laptop 7 15 against recent Apple MacBook and Intel-powered laptops. Now, Qualcomm has provided official results for its Hexagon NPU, screenshots of which we have embedded below. For reference, while all Snapdragon X SKUs differ in one area or another, they all feature NPUs capable of delivering up 45 TOPS in theoretical performance.
Unsurprisingly, Qualcomm boasts that the Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100) requires significantly less power to run than established options like the Apple M3 and the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H. Likewise, it claims that the Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100) offers much higher NPU performance per watt than either of its competitors. However, Qualcomm neglects to mention the more power-hungry Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-84-100) variant or the lesser Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-78-100) and Snapdragon X Plus (X1P-64-100).
Similarly, Qualcomm asserts that Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100) also outperforms its peers in Procyon AI or when generating images and photo editing in GIMP + Stable Diffusion 1.5 and Luminar Neo, respectively. As always, we would recommend waiting for independent Snapdragon X reviews to arrive instead of taking Qualcomm at its word. Currently, it seems that Snapdragon X-powered devices will begin shipping on June 18. Thus, we imagine that early reviews will land at the start of next month.
Source(s)
Qualcomm
![Auto SR initially limited to Copilot+ AI PCs with Snapdragon X Elite processors (Image source: Microsoft and Qualcomm [edited])](fileadmin/_processed_/6/3/csm_Copilot-AI-PCs-with-Snapdragon-X-Elite_74c6a0ae8a.jpg)
