Newsletter
Ahead of Computex 2024 tomorrow, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon presented a keynote titled “The PC Reborn” with a focus on the Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus platforms. Amon talked about the company’s vision as it expands into the PC processor industry. We also finally have a release date for the first batch of Snapdragon X-powered PCs.
Qualcomm’s Computex 2024 Keynote revolves around Snapdragon X
According to Amon, Qualcomm is changing. While it is primarily known as a maker of smartphone SoCs, the company offers a wide range of communication products. However, it is now “graduating” into a “connected computing” company. This is an indication of its commitment to making powerful computer processors. Qualcomm entered the fray with the Snapdragon X Elite last year and expanded the portfolio with the Snapdragon X Plus earlier this year.
The company aims to redefine PCs, unlocking new possibilities in productivity, creativity, and entertainment. Unsurprisingly, AI is core to this effort, with Amon frequently mentioning Microsoft’s Copilot+ AI companion for PCs. The Snapdragon X platform boasts a powerful NPU dedicated to AI workloads, freeing up the CPU and GPU for other tasks. This significantly boosts performance and lowers power consumption for longer battery life.
“The Snapdragon X series and Copilot+—it’s one of the most significant transitions in Windows…as significant as Windows 95,” the Qualcomm CEO said. At 45 TOPS, the Elite model boasts the world’s fastest and most efficient NPU for laptops. Its NPU performance per watt is up to 2.6X higher than Apple’s M3 and up to 5.4X higher than Intel’s Core Ultra 7. It also offers 51% faster CPU performance while power consumption drops by 65%.
Amon also highlighted Qualcomm’s development tools that developers can use to create next-gen AI apps. The Qualcomm AI Hub, for example, allows developers to deploy an AI model on Snapdragon-powered devices in just 5 minutes. It supports stock AI models offered by the company as well as custom models built by the developer. The new Snapdragon Dev Kit, meanwhile, provides developers with the ideal Windows hardware platform.
The first Snapdragon X-powered laptops are up for pre-order
At Computex 2024, Qualcomm also announced the market launch of the first laptops powered by the Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus processors. The company says 20 laptops with Copilot+ capabilities are now available for pre-order in several markets. General sales will begin on June 18. Qualcomm named Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, and Samsung among its partners, so expect a wide range of Snapdragon X-powered products in the future.