The new Snapdragon X chip will exceed our power expectations.
During its recent Investor Day, Qualcomm announced that its new computer processor, the Snapdragon X Elite Gen 2, will be equipped with the Oryon v3 CPU.
During the recent Qualcomm Investor Day, it was revealed that the new computer chip, Snapdragon X Elite Gen 2, will integrate the Oryon v3 CPU. This news has caught many by surprise, given that the Oryon v2 CPU was announced just last month and its use was being planned alongside the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset for mobile devices. Throughout development, it was assumed that the second generation of the Snapdragon X Elite would incorporate the CPU from the same generation, but it seems that the chips designed for computers will completely skip this version.
According to available information, the Oryon v2 has proven to be 30% more efficient and 57% faster than its predecessor, and it is expected that the v3 version will surpass these metrics. However, since the third generation is still in development, no specific announcements are anticipated until the next Snapdragon Summit, which will take place in almost a year. At this moment, Qualcomm merely promises enhancements that will be of interest to both the public and investors. To make a real impact in the industry, Qualcomm will need to offer performance comparable to that of Apple's silicon chips, something that is not yet guaranteed. The energy efficiency of Apple's processors, which is responsible for the remarkable battery life in devices like Macs, presents a challenge.
Apple's new M4 chips feature "efficiency cores" that, for certain tasks, consume 93% less energy than "performance cores." Achieving that level of efficiency will be challenging for Qualcomm, but competition is essential to maintain the health and dynamism of the sector.
On the other hand, benchmark tests of the Snapdragon X Elite have started to circulate, showing disappointing results. A user who had early access to the Samsung Galaxy Book Edge 14 shared benchmark results on Geekbench that showed single-core scores of 1,841 and multi-core scores of 11,537, figures below expectations. Qualcomm had claimed that the Snapdragon X Elite could reach 2,977 in single-core performance and 15,086 in multi-core performance. Additionally, the chip's performance in video games, such as "Resident Evil Village" at 1080p, revealed "severe frame drops," even with AMD's graphics enhancement technology enabled. These scores contrast sharply with previous experiences where solid processor performance was demonstrated.
As the sector moves towards integrating artificial intelligence in devices, the term "AI PC" has emerged. However, many believe that the implementations so far have not lived up to expectations to be truly valuable.
