Qualcomm is making strides to bring its Windows-on-Arm technology to more affordable laptops with the launch of a new 8-core Snapdragon X Plus chip. This development aligns with CEO Cristiano Amon’s vision to expand the Snapdragon X-series beyond premium PCs, aiming for midrange laptops priced around $700.
The 8-core Snapdragon X Plus, which maintains the Oryon CPU architecture, meets Microsoft’s Copilot+ requirements, thanks to its 45 trillion operations per second (TOPS) neural processing unit (NPU). It comes in two variants: the X1P-46-100, with a 4.0 GHz CPU boost and 2.1 TFLOPS GPU performance, and the X1P-42-100, with a 3.4 GHz boost and 1.7 TFLOPS GPU performance. While not designed for high-end gaming, this chip is well-suited for general-purpose computing and web browsing, especially in midrange PCs with at least 16GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage.
Although the 8-core Snapdragon X Plus fills a niche in the midrange market, Qualcomm has yet to address the low-end segment. To reach its goal of powering 60% of all PC shipments, Qualcomm will need to offer more affordable chips that cater to budget-conscious consumers.
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