Snapdragon X2 Elite Specs Leak Suggests A Big Upgrade With More Cores
Don't expect Qualcomm to pump the brakes as it accelerates further into laptop and desktop form factors with its Snapdragon X silicon. Just the opposite, Qualcomm has stated time and again that it plans on expanding its Windows on Snapdragon initiative, and so it's likely no coincidence that a reputable leaker has posted details about an upcoming Snapdragon X2 Elite processor.
To be clear, no such chip officially exists, at least not yet. But according to Roland Quandt, it's coming and it will flex 50% more cores than the Snapdragon X Elite, which is Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon silicon for Windows PCs.
SC8480XP aka SD X2 Elite in testing with 64GB RAM... looking like 18 core thing more and more.
— Roland Quandt (@rquandt.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 9:56 AM
"SC8480XP aka SD X2 Elite in testing with 64GB of RAM... looking like 18 core thing more and more," Quandt wrote on Bluesky.
To put those specs into context, the current-generation Snapdragon X Elite comes in five configurations, all of which sport a dozen cores, 42MB of total cache, and LPDDR5X-8448 RAM support (up to 64GB). What separates one SKU from another is a combination of clock speeds, GPU performance, and NPU performance.
Here's a high-level overview...
Adding more cores could help with certain workloads, though it's not the end-all, be-all for performance in the modern era. More recently, there's been a lot of focus on dedicated neural processing units (NPUs) to drive artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads. NPU performance is generally measured in TOPS, or trillions of operations per second.
As you can see in the comparison table above, all four Snapdragon X Elite SKUs offer up 45 TOPS of NPU performance. Quandt doesn't reveal if the NPU will get an upgrade as well on the Snapdragon X2 Elite, but we'd be surprised if Qualcomm kept it the same for a generational upgrade.
That said, a 50% increase in cores could help Qualcomm make a bigger splash in desktops. Most of Qualcomm's focus so far has been on Arm-based Copilot+ laptops, but it was around this time last year when Qualcomm president and CEO Cristiano Amon made clear that the company was targeting a bigger expansion, as part of a "PC is reborn" battle cry.
"Snapdragon X and Copilot+ are coming to all PC form factors. Qualcomm is in now in this neighborhood to stay, we're not going anywhere and we're very happy to be working with our partners in all the different form factors for the industry. This is incredibly exciting because PC is truly reborn and that's a great transition," Amon said during his keynote.
The next Snapdragon Summit is scheduled to run from September 23-25, 2025, which could serve as a potential launchpad for the Snapdragon X2 Elite.
