Snapdragon X Plus with Oryon processor, 45 TOPS Hexagon NPU to run AI on the device

The Snapdragon X Plus was launched on Wednesday as the latest Qualcomm Arm-based chip for laptops. It follows the launch of the chipmaker’s flagship Snapdragon X Elite platform. The latest laptop processor is equipped with a 10-core CPU and 45 TOPS NPU along with support for 64 GB RAM. Qualcomm is also touting the artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities of the Snapdragon X Plus chip, which comes with support for three external displays at 4K HDR resolution. along with 5G and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity.

The new 4nm Snapdragon X Plus platform (XIP-64-100) consists of 10 Oryon CPU cores with a peak clock frequency of 3.4 GHz and a 3.8 TFLOPs Adreno GPU. It is also equipped with a 45 TOPS Hexagon NPU from Qualcomm that enables support for AI computing on the device. The chip supports up to 64GB of LPDDR5x RAM, along with NVMe (PCIe Gen 4) or UFS 4.0 or storage.

According to details Qualcomm shared that the Snapdragon X Plus platform is 37 percent faster than competing processors — which are unnamed but expected to be Apple’s M-series chips — while offering up to 54 percent better power efficiency. It supports a 4K HDR display on the device with a 120Hz refresh rate, along with up to three 4K HDR external displays simultaneously.

The Snapdragon X Plus sits below the flagship Snapdragon X Elite processor (tap to expand)
Photo: Qualcomm

The chipmaker demonstrated the AI ​​capabilities of the Snapdragon X Plus device, using Riffusion to generate music in Audacity, live translation of 100 spoken languages ​​in OBS Studio, and using Codegen to generate new code with generative AI (GenAI).

The Snapdragon X Plus is equipped with two 18-bit Spectra signal processors (ISPs) that support up to 64-megapixel cameras and up to 4K HDR video recording. The chipset comes with Qualcomm Aqstic audio support along with its own aptX audio codec.

Connectivity options on the Snapdragon X Plus include 5G (mmWave, Sub-6GHz), Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. Cellular connectivity is enabled by the chipmaker’s Snapdragon X65 5G modem, while Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections work through the Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 connectivity system. The chip also enables USB 4 connectivity with three USB 4 ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 and a built-in USB (eUSB2) port.

According to Qualcomm, laptops with the latest Snapdragon X Plus chip will be available in mid-2024, and the chipmaker has not yet provided a list of OEMs that will introduce new laptop models with the 4nm processor. Customers will be able to buy laptops powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Plus and Snapdragon X Elite chips — like the rumored Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 (2024) — in the coming months.