Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme Outpaces Intel and AMD in Early Benchmarks

Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme is already turning heads. Early benchmark results suggest it can beat some of the best processors from Intel and AMD. This is a big step forward for ARM-based chips in the laptop market.

The new chip was tested using Geekbench 6.5 and Cinebench 2024. In both tests, it outperformed AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and Intel’s Core Ultra 7 258V. It even left Qualcomm’s own Snapdragon X Elite far behind.

The X2 Elite Extreme comes with 18 CPU cores. Twelve of them are Prime cores running at 4.4GHz, with the ability to boost up to 5.0GHz. The other six are Performance cores running at 3.6GHz. Together, they deliver strong results in both single-core and multi-core performance.

Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme Outpaces Intel and AMD in Early Benchmarks

The tests were done on laptops plugged into a power source, though Qualcomm claims performance remains the same on battery. The demo devices had 48GB of DDR5X RAM. It is not yet confirmed if that RAM was soldered or upgradeable. The Extreme version supports both options, unlike the lower models.

Memory bandwidth is another highlight. The Extreme chip has a 192-bit memory interface offering 228GB/s, compared to 128-bit (152GB/s) on the other two X2 Elite versions. This gives it an advantage in handling heavy workloads.

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GPU and Graphics Power

Graphics performance also shows a big leap. The Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme is powered by the Adreno X2-90 GPU, running up to 1.85GHz. In 3DMark Steel Nomad Light, it scored 80% higher than Intel’s Arc 140V iGPU and AMD’s Radeon 890M iGPU. Compared to the older Snapdragon X Elite, it’s 2.6 times faster.

Strong AI Performance

AI features are now an important part of processors, and Qualcomm made sure to focus on this. The Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme comes with an 80 TOPS NPU. That’s almost three times faster than the NPU inside the original Snapdragon X Elite, which was rated at 45 TOPS. In real-world tasks, it also outperforms Intel’s AI acceleration by a wide margin.

What’s Next

Qualcomm announced three versions of the X2 generation: Elite Extreme (96), Elite (88), and Elite (80). Only the top version was tested so far, and under Qualcomm’s controlled setup. The first laptops with these chips are expected to arrive in Spring 2026. By then, we should also see performance results for the other two chips.

For now, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme shows that ARM laptops may finally compete head-on with the best Intel and AMD systems.