Qualcomm unveils another entry-level Snapdragon

Qualcomm is spreading the Windows-on-ARM butter even thinner: After the Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 unveiled at IFA in September pushed the entry-level price of laptops equipped with it well below the 1000 euro mark (you can sometimes get a Snapdragon X Elite for that much money), the Snapdragon X X1-26-100 now unveiled stacks up even lower. It is the first Snapdragon X without name suffixes such as Plus or Elite. It still offers eight cores, but they barely reach 3 GHz – - 2.97 GHz to be precise.

Device manufacturers now have the opportunity to push existing notebook models below the 800 euro mark with cheaper equipment variants, without having to forego the marketing subsidies granted by Microsoft for the Copilot+ label (and the associated AI functions of Windows 11). AMD and Intel only have CPUs in their portfolio for this price range whose AI accelerator (Neural Processing Unit, NPU) is not sufficient for Copilot+ – or even processors without an AI accelerator at all. The X1-26-100, on the other hand, has the same Hexagon NPU with 46 TOPS as its larger siblings.

There are no compromises when it comes to the other features either: The integrated graphics unit controls up to three external displays, the chip offers USB4 and cooperates with Wi-Fi 7 modules. However, whether you will actually find all of this in devices equipped with it is another matter. Even notebooks with the higher-end Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 can only use peripherals at USB 3.x speed and the Wi-Fi adapter only supports Wi-Fi 6.

After notebooks, now desktops

While no wave of new Snapdragon notebooks is to be expected, new devices are nevertheless on the horizon –, namely stationary computers. A number of mini PCs are to be unveiled during CES, with which the Snapdragon X will make the leap to the previously x86-dominated desktop. We are curious to see where these will be priced; expectations of a starting price of around 500 euros are probably quite realistic.

Heise Medien is the official media partner of CES 2025.

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