The Snapdragon X2 Plus, announced at CES 2026, joins the X2 family of SoCs, which already has two more powerful members: the Snapdragon X2 Elite and Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, which were announced at last year’s Snapdragon Summit. The newer X2 Plus chip will power more affordable Windows notebooks and take on Apple Silicon. But it turns out, Qualcomm’s met with another defeat here, as the X2 Plus lags far behind Apple M4 in key CPU and GPU benchmarks.

On paper, the Snapdragon X2 Plus looks rather impressive. It’s got higher cache memory, bandwidth, and a much higher on-chip TOPS than Apple M4, but it’s the overall package that matters, where Apple Silicon maintains a strong lead.

A series of synthetic benchmark tests run by PCMAG reveals that Apple’s previous-generation silicon can comfortably outperform the latest rivals from Qualcomm. The chips were tested across key benchmarks, including Geekbench 6, 3DMark Steel Nomad Light, 3DMark Solar Bay, and Cinebench 2024, with most of them showing a higher score for the Apple M4, by up to 30%.

Benchmark scores

Geekbench 6

Cinebench 2024

3DMark

While the Snapdragon X2 Plus is a strong upgrade over the original Snapdragon X Plus, it still can’t beat 2024’s Apple M4 Silicon, which only means a far worse result when compared to Apple M5. However, on the plus side, the Qualcomm X2 series SoCs show rather impressive numbers against the powerful chips from Intel and AMD.

Note that synthetic benchmarks, although useful, don’t show the complete picture. I would rather wait for more benchmarks or real-world comparisons to reach a conclusion. Unfortunately, the wait appears to be a little longer, as Snapdragon X2 Plus-powered Windows notebooks are expected to hit the market in the second quarter.

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The post Qualcomm’s struggle against Apple Silicon continues, as Snapdragon X2 Plus fails to beat the older Apple M4 in key CPU and GPU benchmarks appeared first on Gizmochina.

Qualcomm is once again turning up the pressure on traditional laptop processors. At CES 2026, the company introduced the Snapdragon X2 Plus lineup, aimed squarely at thin-and-light Windows laptops.

The new chips sit below the previously announced Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme, which debuted in September 2025. This time, Qualcomm is targeting more mainstream designs while keeping most of the core tech intact.

Two variants have been announced. There’s a 6-core Snapdragon X2 Plus X2P-42-100 and a higher-end 10-core X2P-64-100. Both use Qualcomm’s third-generation Oryon CPU architecture and pair it with an Adreno X2-45 integrated GPU.

The 10-core model combines six Prime cores with four Performance cores, while the 6-core version relies entirely on Prime cores. Clock speeds top out at just over 4GHz. Cache sizes differ, but both chips are clearly tuned for sustained performance rather than brief bursts.

Graphics support is solid for the class. The Adreno X2-45 supports DirectX 12.2 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, with higher GPU clocks reserved for the 10-core chip. Qualcomm is clearly balancing power and efficiency here, especially for slimmer laptops.

Memory and I/O are also competitive. The X2 Plus supports up to 128GB of LPDDR5x RAM, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, multiple USB-C ports, and up to three external 4K displays.

Based on Geekbench 6.5 results shared by the company, the 10-core Snapdragon X2 Plus X2P-64-100 delivers around 35% better single-core and 17% faster multi-core performance than the first-generation Snapdragon X Plus. On the graphics side, Qualcomm says the Adreno X2-45 iGPU is roughly 29% faster in the 3DMark Steel Nomad Light benchmark, while the upgraded NPU sees a claimed 78% generational jump in AI performance.

The 6-core Snapdragon X2 Plus reportedly matches the single-core uplift of the 10-core variant, while offering about a 10% multi-core gain and a more substantial 39% improvement in GPU performance over its predecessor.

Qualcomm also highlights efficiency advantages versus x86 rivals. According to the company, the 10-core X2 Plus is around 3.5 times faster than Intel’s Core Ultra 7 265U in Geekbench 6.5 at iso-power, alongside a 28% lead in peak single-core scores. Qualcomm adds that Intel’s chip needs up to 4.6 times more power to reach its peak performance, underscoring the ARM platform’s efficiency push.

As always, real-world testing will matter more than slides. Laptops powered by Snapdragon X2 Plus are expected in the first half of 2026.

(Source)

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