Analyst: Olivier Blanchard
Publication Date: September 17, 2024
Document #: MCNOB202409
What Is Covered in This Article:
- Overview of Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X Plus 8-core processor
- Ways in which the Snapdragon X Plus 8-core processor punches above its weight
- Why this processor specifically could be the key to an acceleration of mainstream adoption for Windows-on-Arm Copilot+ PCs
- Why Snapdragon X Plus 8-core could be Qualcomm’s most valuable piece of IP in its pursuit of PC segment market share growth
The News: Ahead of IFA 2024, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced the expansion of its Snapdragon X Series portfolio with the introduction of Snapdragon X Plus 8-core, a breakthrough platform that unleashes multi-day battery life, unprecedented performance, and AI-powered Copilot+ experiences to even more people. The release expands the Snapdragon X AI PC platform to yet another competitive price tier for AI PCs – the priced $700-$800 range – a critical tier in both the commercial and consumer segments for PCs, especially as PC OEMs accelerate their efforts to introduce Copilot+ PCs to their respective markets.
New Snapdragon X Plus 8-core AI PC Punches Above Its Weight
Analyst Take: I don’t usually get excited about mainstream and budget tier processors, but I will make an exception for the Snapdragon X Plus 8-core, and let me tell you why. It’s a lot better than it ought to be for its specs, and may yet deliver one of the best price-to-value ratios in the AI PC segment to date. And given Snapdragon and Arm’s otherwise long road to mainstream adoption in the PC segment, particularly with commercial customers who love x86 architecture, having a solid Snapdragon X option that addresses the need for sub-$900 Copilot+ PCs bears all the hallmarks of a win for Qualcomm, PC OEMs, and of course users.
Market Positioning and Opportunity
Qualcomm’s 12-core Snapdragon X Elite is, as its branding suggests, a flagship level processor with a flagship-level price point. Its slightly less fancy sibling, the 10-core Snapdragon X Plus, also fills a need in the PC segment’s next (premium) price tier. And given Snapdragon X’s clear ability to compete with M-powered MacBook laptops on processor performance and incredible battery life, that’s great news for Microsoft and PC OEMs who understand that scores of PC users looking to finally enjoy Mac-like performance on a Windows PC will gladly pay a premium price for the privilege – especially if Copilot+ PCs powered by the Snapdragon X platform are priced more aggressively than Macs.
But the market for a Windows equivalent to MacBook in the sub-$900 price range is real and Snapdragon X Plus 8-core effectively unlocks it for Qualcomm and its PC OEM partners. Even beyond the PC vs Mac equation, Qualcomm’s ability to deliver a Snapdragon X processor capable of competing in that more budget-minded price tier was critical to the platform’s continued adoption and path toward scale in a market previously dominated by Intel and AMD processors. Had Qualcomm not done this, Snapdragon X would have been stuck in Flagship and Premium tiers. This was the right move at exactly the right time.
Snapdragon X Plus 8-core Pros and Cons
On paper, the Snapdragon X Plus 8-Core is essentially a slightly less powerful version of its 10-core variant, but I am not entirely sure that PC users will notice. If that is the case, Copilot+ PCs powered by this processor may create the best price-to-value ratio in the entire ecosystem.
Per Qualcomm, Snapdragon X Plus 8-core brings to mainstream devices the performance and power efficiency of its Oryon CPU, integrated GPU and groundbreaking 45 TOPS NPU for on-device AI processing. In other words: the 8-core still delivers the platform’s main two features: (1) multi-day battery life (in fact, the smaller number of cores could even bring battery autonomy advantages for some workloads) and (2) 45 TOPS on the NPU.
The platform’s support for up to three external UHD monitors (running at 60Hz), 4K streaming, chip-to-cloud security (Qualcomm Secure Processing Unit with Microsoft Pluton TPM, total memory encryption, and Microsoft Secured-core PC support), 5G and Wi-Fi 7 with HBS Multi-Link for lightning-fast and jitter-free connectivity, inclusion of the Snapdragon Seamless experience (which allows you to easily switch between devices), Advanced MIPI camera support (for high-quality imaging and intelligent features, such as auto-framing, background blur, and facial authentication at lower power consumption) only adds to my excitement about it, and validates my first impression: From what I see, Snapdragon X Plus 8-core solidly punches above its weight.
Like its 10-core variant, the Snapdragon X Plus 8-core comes in two versions. Both sport a 30 MB cache (compared to the 10-core’s 42MB). Max multicore frequency on the X1P-46-100 is 3.4GHz, while the X1P-42-100 is 3.2GHz (compared to the 10-core’s 3.4GHz). Boost frequency (single core) is 42GHz and 3.4GHz, respectively (compared to the 10-core’s 4.0GHz). One of the most noticeable differences in performance between Snapdragon X Plus processors points to the Adreno GPU, which instead of delivering 3.8 TFLOPS across the board for the 10-core versions, drops to 2.1 and 1.7 for the two 8-core options. All Snapdragon X, regardless of the number of cores, pack LPDDR5x memory with 135GB/s bandwidth and 8448 MT/S transfer rates.
“The first and best Copilot+ PCs are powered by Snapdragon X Series platforms, launching a new generation in personal computing, made possible by our groundbreaking NPU,” said Cristiano Amon, President and Chief Executive Officer, Qualcomm Incorporated at a press conference just ahead of IFA. “With Snapdragon X Plus 8-core, we are now bringing to more users these transformative AI experiences, and the best-in-class performance and unprecedented battery life of our power-efficient custom Qualcomm Oryon CPU. We’re proud to be working with leading global OEMs and retail partners to expand our portfolio and enable enterprise customers and consumers.”
Note that mentions of Qualcomm’s Oryon CPU are accelerating, so keep that in mind as we count down to Qualcomm’s annual Snapdragon Tech Summit in October.
Could Snapdragon X fuel a new era of competitive differentiation between PC OEMs?
ASUS, capitalizing on its own momentum, was also on hand to share some thoughts: “We’re thrilled to see the Snapdragon X Plus 8-core platform bringing the transformative power of Copilot+ to even more users worldwide,” said Rangoon Chang, Corporate Vice President, Consumer BU. “ASUS is committed to making cutting-edge technology, like the ProArt PZ13, accessible to everyone, everywhere and this partnership with Qualcomm is a significant step in that direction.”
For reference, the ProArt PZ13 is a Snapdragon X powered tablet PC announced at Computex in June. Unlike many of the AMD-powered PCs ASUS had announced at that event, the PZ13 seemed aimed at extremely mobile creatives who need a highly portable device that can deliver multi-day battery life. (Handy on camping trips, hikes, and other adventures both on and off the grid). If nothing else, the ProArt PZ13 drops hints about how the Snapdragon X platform’s versatility is already opening doors for PC OEMs to design entirely new, highly differentiated products for core PC audiences. And while the PZ13 is likely aimed at premium tier users, one can infer that the new Snapdragon X Plus 8-core could lead to similar devices making their way into the hands of students, musicians, artists, and other creators on a budget.
Why This Release Is Good News for Everyone
For PC users, it means that Copilot+ PCs won’t only be premium-priced products, and they will be able to get their hands on affordable models this year. It also means considerable improvements in PC performance over the PCs they will be upgrading from, including the same 45 TOPS on the NPU spec that more premium-priced tiers also promise to deliver.
For PC OEMs and Microsoft, it means being able to enter the holiday quarter with a broader range of Copilot+ PC options, including mainstream pricing tiers, which should help accelerate adoption and bring more scale to the ecosystem.
“Qualcomm’s introduction of Snapdragon X Plus 8-core builds on the incredible energy and momentum for Copilot+ PCs that began in May,” explained Pavan Davuluri, Corporate Vice President, Windows + Devices. “Their breakthrough platform unlocks all-day battery life, unprecedented performance and efficiency, and with the powerful NPU, brings AI-powered Windows experiences to even more people. Together, we will continue to collaborate across the Windows ecosystem with Qualcomm to push the boundaries of what is possible with Copilot+ PCs.”
(Note: Microsoft PCs powered by the Snapdragon X Plus 8-core launched at IFA as well, so look for separate coverage about that additional Copilot+ milestone.)
For Qualcomm, a mainstream-priced processor means potentially faster penetration for the Snapdragon X platform in both the enterprise and consumer segments against competitors Intel and AMD. The faster the addition of a mainstream option for Snapdragon X, the sooner Qualcomm could begin capitalizing on demand for a more budget-friendly, scalable alternative to its premium versions.
Conclusion
Qualcomm wasted no time building on Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus (10-core) momentum with this September release of the more mainstream-focused Snapdragon X Plus 8-core processor for Copilot+ AI PCs. This felt fast for Qualcomm, who usually waits more than two months after its flagship platform upgrades in Mobile before introducing more budget-focused versions to the long tail of the market. This speaks of two factors: (1) The PC segment is very different from the mobile handset segment, and Qualcomm clearly understands this. (2) PC OEMs were probably unequivocal about addressing mainstream price tiers as early as possible in the Copilot+ rollout schedule.
As with all growth strategies, initiative and momentum, especially early in a campaign, are critical drivers of success, and this rapid succession of Snapdragon X processor releases feels right: Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus (10-core) in May/June, followed by Snapdragon X Plus 8-core in September. This pace seems well-calibrated to enter Q4 with all of the necessary pieces on the board to start capturing market share, and make the most of Intel’s relative late entry into the Copilot+ space.
Snapdragon X Plus 8-core is a solid processor for Qualcomm’s Copilot+ ecosystem play, and one that I believe has outstanding chances of resonating with mainstream AI PC consumers looking for multi-day battery life, 45 TOPS (NPU) AI PC performance on the Copilot+ PCs without breaking the bank, as well as budget-minded IT departments on the commercial side, who need Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ machines for their road warriors and hybrid workers.
Although Snapdragon X Plus 8-core is arguably the least of the Snapdragon X processors, it could very well end up being the platform’s MVP when it comes to accelerating Windows-on-Arm adoption and bringing scale to Qualcomm’s PC segment ambitions.
The Snapdragon X Plus 8-core spec sheet is available on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X product page.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Other insights from The Futurum Group:
The PC Segment’s AI Inflection Point: Copilot+ PC Cheat Sheet
The Copilot+ PC Disruption Is Here: What Happens Now?
Featured Image Source: Qualcomm
Author Information
Olivier Blanchard has extensive experience managing product innovation, technology adoption, digital integration, and change management for industry leaders in the B2B, B2C, B2G sectors, and the IT channel. His passion is helping decision-makers and their organizations understand the many risks and opportunities of technology-driven disruption, and leverage innovation to build stronger, better, more competitive companies.
