Qualcomm expands Snapdragon portfolio with new platform to power AI PCs

Chip-maker Qualcomm on Wednesday expanded its Snapdragon X Series portfolio with a new platform to deliver better performance, longer battery life and on-device AI capabilities for more Windows PCs.

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are expected to launch PCs powered by Snapdragon X Plus alongside devices powered by Snapdragon X Elite, starting mid-2024.

Snapdragon X Plus features ‘Qualcomm Oryon CPU’, a custom-integrated processor that delivers up to 37 per cent faster performance compared to competitors, while consuming up to 54 per cent less power, the company said in a statement.

“Snapdragon X Plus will power AI-Supercharged PCs that enable even more users to excel as radical new AI experiences emerge in this period of rapid development and deployment,” said Kedar Kondap, SVP and general manager of compute and gaming, Qualcomm Technologies.

“By delivering leading CPU performance, AI capabilities, and power efficiency, we are once again pushing the boundaries of what is possible in mobile computing,” Kondap added.

The chip is designed to meet the demands of on-device AI-driven applications, powered by the Qualcomm Hexagon NPU capable of 45 TOPS (tera operations per second), making it the world’s fastest NPU for laptops, said the company.