Home / Technology / Snapdragon X Elite Challenges Intel & Apple
Snapdragon X Elite Challenges Intel & Apple
9 Feb
Summary
- Snapdragon X2 Elite outperforms Apple M5 in multi-core benchmarks.
- Real-world rendering tests show X2 Elite significantly faster than M5.
- Qualcomm's X2 Elite aims for performance crown against Intel and Apple.

Fresh benchmark data for Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite processor indicates a significant advancement in mobile chip technology, posing a strong challenge to Apple and Intel. Testing on a pre-production Asus Zenbook revealed the X2 Elite's 18-core performance, achieving a multi-core score of 1,432 in Cinebench 2024, surpassing Apple's M5 score of 1,153.
In practical applications, the Snapdragon X2 Elite demonstrated its speed by completing a Handbrake transcode in a remarkable 3 minutes and 29 seconds. This performance not only leads the Apple M5 (5:14) but also surpasses Intel's Panther Lake chip found in the Dell XPS 14 (4:32). During these peak operations, the X2 Elite drew approximately 31W.
While Qualcomm excels in raw multi-core compute power, Apple's M5 maintains an edge in single-core performance. The upcoming arrival of the Snapdragon X2 Elite is expected to escalate the competition in the high-performance laptop market, with Qualcomm clearly aiming for the top performance spot.
Further benchmarks of the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme variant showed even higher Geekbench 6 multi-core scores, reaching 23,449, significantly exceeding both the Apple M5 (17,926) and Intel's Core Ultra 7 (16,927). This positions Qualcomm as a formidable contender in the ongoing silicon war.




