Arr, Snapdragon X Elite be gunnin' fer Intel's treasure, makin' yer Windows PC smart 'n' run all day, matey!
2023-10-24
Arrr, ye scurvy dogs be listenin'! Qualcomm, me hearties, have unleashed a mighty new ARM-based system on a chip fer Windows PCs. It be promisin' grander performance, longer battery life, and a bounty o' AI treasures. Avast!
In a bold move, Qualcomm has announced its latest system on a chip (SoC) for Windows PCs, called Snapdragon X Elite. The company claims that the new silicon, powered by Qualcomm's Oryon CPU, is faster than both Apple's M2 Max and Intel's Core i9 in certain benchmarks. Additionally, Qualcomm asserts that the Snapdragon X Elite uses 70% less power than comparable chips from competitors at peak performance. The chip is not only focused on raw performance and power savings but also boasts impressive AI capabilities, with the ability to run AI models with 13 billion parameters on-device. The Snapdragon X Elite features a Hexagon Neural Processing Unit (NPU) and Qualcomm's Adreno GPU, capable of managing up to 4.6 teraflops.The Snapdragon X Elite is expected to offer "days" of battery life, thanks to its energy-efficient 4nm process. It also supports powerful features such as cameras with up to 64MP sensors and 4K video capture. The chip is designed to work seamlessly with Microsoft's Windows Studio features and offers native support for 5G, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4. One of the first devices to feature the Snapdragon X Elite will be a Microsoft Surface laptop.
Qualcomm has even bigger plans for the future, stating that the Snapdragon X Elite or a version of it will be utilized in cars and AR/VR applications. While the chip is currently targeted for Windows laptops, Qualcomm hinted that the Oryon CPU may be used in future products in different form factors. The announcement of the Snapdragon X Elite comes just hours after Apple teased its October 30th Mac event, where it is expected to unveil its latest Apple Silicon, the M3. With both Qualcomm and Apple vying for dominance in the laptop computing component space, it promises to be an interesting winter and early 2024.