Meet Snapdragon X Plus — Qualcomm’s lower-end laptop chip that is still 10% faster than Apple M3

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus laptop processor.
(Image credit: Future)

Qualcomm isn’t stopping at just Elite on its arm-based war against the best MacBooks, as the company has just announced the Snapdragon X Plus — a lower-end option that packs impressive performance and power efficiency, that is also a tad faster than Apple M3.

You can expect to see these Qualcomm-equipped machines drop from top laptop manufacturers in mid-2024, and rumors are pointing toward Lenovo and Microsoft being the first companies to jump on this silicon.

So what are the differences between this and the Snapdragon X Elite? Let’s get into it.

Cutbacks in the name of efficiency

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus laptop processor.

(Image credit: Future)

To bring the cost down and make this the lower-tier chip compared to the Snapdragon X Elite, two key changes have been made — the amount of cores for multi-threaded performance has gone down from 12 to 10, and there is no Dual-Core Boost frequency available to boost the speed of those complex tasks.

Beyond that, rather impressively, a lot of the chip’s specs remain very similar to what the Elite has: 45 Trillion Operations Per Second (TOPS) of AI performance via the NPU, 3.8GHz of GPU power, and a 42MB total cache.

For context, this continues to be a more potent NPU than what you can even find in the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H, so this should show you how serious Qualcomm is about AI. In fact, it is the only Windows laptop chip that could be able to run Copilot locally.

X (Plus) gon’ give it to ya

So we’ve got past the intricacies, let’s answer the simple question: what do these specs mean for you, the laptop user? Qualcomm promises a couple of vague numbers: a “37% faster CPU,” while consuming “up to 54% less power.”

We tested the performance of this chip for ourselves with a spot of Geekbench 6 benchmarking, and here’s what we found out.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Chip (laptop)Geekbench 6 (single-core)Geekbench 6 (multicore)
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus (Reference design laptop)240813015
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite (Reference design laptop)286415016
M3 (MacBook Air)308212087
M3 Pro (MacBook Pro)315414357
M3 Max (MacBook Pro)320021711
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (Asus Zenbook Duo)247512867
Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra)242113124

While the gap in that multi-core performance is a little closer to the competition and it doesn’t hold a candle to the souped-up M3 Pro and M3 Max (as expected with this being the lower-end Snapdragon) the X Plus continues to be faster than the M3 found in the new MacBook Air and iMac.

You can also see the mid-tier Windows laptop market this chip is aiming for too, as the numbers are far closer in competition to the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H in the Asus Zenbook Duo, whereas the Ultra 9 185H in the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra pips it to the post.

Put simply, there’s a lot to be excited about when it comes to performance and longevity potential of the Snapdragon X Plus — especially if the price is right and the laptops that feature these (set to drop in a couple of months).

More from Tom's Guide

Category
Arrow
Arrow
Back to MacBook Air
Brand
Arrow
Processor
Arrow
RAM
Arrow
Storage Size
Arrow
Screen Size
Arrow
Colour
Arrow
Storage Type
Arrow
Condition
Arrow
Price
Arrow
Any Price
Showing 10 of 45 deals
Filters
Arrow
Show more
Jason England
Managing Editor — Computing

Jason brings a decade of tech and gaming journalism experience to his role as a Managing Editor of Computing at Tom's Guide. He has previously written for Laptop Mag, Tom's Hardware, Kotaku, Stuff and BBC Science Focus. In his spare time, you'll find Jason looking for good dogs to pet or thinking about eating pizza if he isn't already.

Read more
MacBook Air M4
M4 MacBook Air benchmark leak reveals huge speed boost over M3 — Intel and AMD should be worried
Snapdragon X Elite
I’m hyped for Snapdragon X2, but it must outmuscle Intel and AMD — 5 ways to do so
Dell XPS 13 laptops side by side showing Snapdragon vs Intel Geekbench scores
I just saw how Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series outperforms Intel CPUs — and I’m blown away by the difference
MacBook Air M4
The MacBook Air M4 could be the laptop of the year — and it's not because of the new chip
MacBook Air M4
MacBook Air M4 benchmarks are here — here's how it compares to the MacBook Pro, Windows laptops and more
Snapdragon X chip concept image
Snapdragon X chip unveiled at CES 2025 for more affordable Copilot+ laptops and even mini PCs — what we know so far
Latest in Laptops
MacBook Air M3 15-inch in hand with Tom's Guide Lowest Price badge
Hurry! MacBook Air M3 just crashed to lowest price ever on Amazon
MacBook Air 15-inch M4
I used Apple's 15-inch M4 MacBook Air for a week — it's like last year's model, but with an extra shot of espresso
MacBook Air 13-inch M4 shown on tabletop
Apple MacBook Air M4 review: the best gets (slightly) better and cheaper
MacBook Air M4
MacBook Air M4 benchmarks are here — here's how it compares to the MacBook Pro, Windows laptops and more
MacBook Air M4
MacBook Air M4 just finally solved a keyboard problem after 25 years — here's what's fixed
MacBook Air M4 vs. MacBook Air M1
MacBook Air M4 vs MacBook Air M1: 7 biggest upgrades
Latest in News
Gemini logo on smartphone
Google is giving away Gemini's best paid features for free — here's the tools you can try now
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Older Samsung phones are finally getting One UI 7 — here's all the devices
A photo of Apple CarPly in use
Apple CarPlay just got a welcome upgrade in iOS 18.4 — what you need to know
Everybody Live With John Mulaney
Netflix top 10 shows — here's the 3 worth watching right now
the Orbea Denna on a gravel track
Orbea's new e-bike is designed to tackle both road and gravel — and you can build your own
An off-white pillow opened up halfway with the latex and fiber filling spilling outside
Coop Sleep Goods launches new Adjustable Latex Pillow — and it's 20% off for Sleep Week