Months after officially announcing its Snapdragon X2 Elite chips, Qualcomm's next-gen mobile CPUs are set to be back on show at CES 2026. And from what I've already seen, laptops are about to get a serious upgrade in performance and battery.
After benchmarking the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, I've seen how far Qualcomm has come from its previous-gen chips, the Snapdragon X Elite series. The latter were fitted in some of the best laptops around, and that's a good sign for what the X2 series will bring to the table — even compared to the latest Apple M5 processor.
Will Qualcomm have a keynote?
Qualcomm had its own special keynote over in Hawaii at its Snapdragon Summit 2025 in September, giving us a hands-on look at its upcoming Snapdragon X2 Elite and Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme chips coming to laptops in 2026.
In light of this, at CES 2026, Qualcomm won't be holding a keynote like its competition, including the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 keynote and Nvidia's big announcement. However, Qualcomm will still have plenty up its sleeve, including a special guest appearance from CEO Cristiano Amon at Lenovo Tech World on January 6 at 5 p.m. PST / 8 p.m. EST / 1 a.m. GMT, fireside chats and more.
We'll be on the ground covering the latest Qualcomm has on show, so stay tuned for all the updates.
What to expect from Qualcomm at CES 2026
One thing's for sure: Qualcomm will be following up on its Snapdragon X2 series promise in this year's upcoming laptops, whether that be from Dell, Asus, Lenovo, Microsoft and more. So, expect many laptops to be announced sporting the tech giant's latest and greatest.
We do know the performance we can expect from the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme on sample machines, and how it compares to other current CPUs on the market. As you'll see below, it's quite the leap compared to the Snapdragon X Elite series.
CPU | Geekbench 6 single-core | Geekbench 6 multi-core |
|---|---|---|
Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme X2E-96-100 | 4074 | 23449 |
M5 (MacBook Pro 14-inch) | 4288 | 17926 |
Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 (Dell XPS 13) | 2797 | 14635 |
M4( MacBook Pro 14-inch) | 3807 | 15114 |
M4 Pro (MacBook Pro 16-inch) | 3910 | 22822 |
With Amon taking to the stage at Lenovo Tech World, it's safe to say that we'll see Lenovo laptops sporting Snapdragon X2 Elite chips. A leak has confirmed that we can expect a Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, IdeaPad 5x 2-in-1 and both 13- and 15-inch IdeaPad Slim 5x laptops, and I'm sure that's only the tip of the iceberg.
The latest Snapdragon X2 Elite processors have impressed, and are sure to give Windows Copilot+ PCs a major boost in CPU, GPU and AI performance, according to the benchmarks we've seen (it's even better for gaming). So, prepare for Arm-based laptops ready for improved performance and extended battery life being revealed at CES 2026.
So, any other surprises from Qualcomm? While we're sure to see reveals about its AI advances (similar to last year), we also might see another entry to the Snapdragon X2 series. During CES 2025, Qualcomm announced its entry-level Snapdragon X chip, and we may see a similar trend happen this year.
We've seen the tech giant introduce its Snapdragon Elite, Plus and X series chips before, so there's reason to believe Qualcomm will follow suit with its next-gen X2 series. Will CES 2026 be the stage where it's all announced? It won't be long until we find out.
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More from Tom's Guide
- Gaming on Snapdragon X Elite laptops just got a whole lot better — I tested the latest update and saw 40% faster gameplay
- Intel Panther Lake vs Snapdragon X2 Elite vs AMD Gorgon Point — one chip is already pulling ahead in 2026's CPU war
- I think 2026 will be a breakout year for laptops and a brutal one for buyers
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