Snapdragon X Plus 8-core chipset unveiled for more affordable Copilot+ PCs ahead of IFA 2024

Qualcomm announced the launch of its Snapdragon X Plus 8-core CPU on Wednesday ahead of its IFA 2024 event in Berlin. The new Snapdragon chipset is a more affordable version of the company’s 10-core Arm-based laptop processor launched earlier this year and is built on the same 4nm process technology. The chipset also features the same Oryon CPU cores as the company’s other X-series processors, supporting on-device artificial intelligence (AI) applications and features.

Snapdragon X Plus 8-core features

The octa-core Snapdragon X Plus chipset features eight of Qualcomm’s Oryon CPU cores with 30MB of CPU cache (12MB less than the more expensive X Plus chip) and supports up to 64GB of LPDDR5X RAM. The X1P-42-100 variant features a peak clock speed of 3.2GHz and a 1.7 TFLOPS Adreno GPU, while the X1P-46-100 chip has a slightly higher clock speed of 3.4GHz and a faster 2.1 TFLOPS GPU.

The newly announced Snapdragon X Plus 8-core processor’s Adreno GPU supports up to three external displays with 4K resolution at 60Hz refresh rate, while the Qualcomm Hexagon NPU can perform 45 trillion operations per second (TOPS) for in-device AI capabilities on compatible applications.

Qualcomm says the Snapdragon X Plus 8-core chip will support PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD or UFS 4.0 storage. Devices with this processor will also be able to support up to 36-megapixel cameras that support 4K HDR video capture via the company’s Spectra ISP.

Snapdragon X Plus 8-core chipset
Photo credit: Qualcomm

The Snapdragon X65 5G modem-RF system on the processor allows it to support mmWave and Sub-6GHz 5G networks with download speeds up to 10Gbps. The Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 mobile connectivity system supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. Computers with this chipset can also have up to three USB 4.0 ports.

Qualcomm also claims that the Snapdragon X Plus 8-core chipset can deliver up to twice the battery life than its closest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 7 155U processor. It’s unclear at this time how well the chip performs compared to Apple’s power-efficient M2 chip.

Snapdragon X Plus 8-core availability

Computers powered by the new Snapdragon X Plus 8-core chipset will be available starting today from OEMs including Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Samsung. Ahead of IFA 2024, Qualcomm president and CEO Cristiano Amon said prices for these laptops will start at $799 (roughly Rs 67,100).