Snapdragon X Elite Benchmark Shows It’s All Set to Take on Apple M-series Chips

Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon X Elite chipset for Windows PCs in October last year. The company showcased internal Geekbench scores of the chipset to prove that it’s better than Apple’s latest M3 chipsets. And today, fresh Geekbench benchmark scores of Snapdragon X Elite (model “Qualcomm ZH-WXX“) have appeared online. But do they tell a similar story?

The new scores give the impression that the X Elite sits somewhere between Apple M2 and M3. But there is more to it as this version of Snapdragon X Elite has two CPU clusters, likely running the 23W version of SDXElite.

Fresh Snapdragon X Elite Geekbench Scores Emerge

When Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon X Elite, the company said that the chipset features 12 high-performance cores and doesn’t pack any efficiency cores. However, the new Geekbench listing shows that it has a total of 12 cores, and it is divided into two clusters – one with 8 cores and another with 4 cores.

Moreover, there are two types of listings — one with a 3.4GHz base frequency and another with a 4.01GHz base frequency. It means the alleged scores are likely derived from a device tested on the 23W version of the X Elite. According to Qualcomm, the 23W version of SDXElite has a base frequency of 3.4GHz and goes up to 4.0GHz in boost mode. The 80W version starts at 3.8GHz and goes up to 4.3GHz.

So, in all likelihood, this benchmark score is from a 23W version of the chipset, which features two CPU clusters (8P + 4E, I suppose). Further, the listing says that it’s running on Windows 11 Insider Preview with 32GB of RAM. Perhaps, the 80W version may come in a single cluster with 12 high-performance cores.

Nevertheless, comparing the Snapdragon X Elite (23W) with Apple’s equivalent chipset, the M3 Pro with 12 CPU cores (6P + 6E), Apple takes the lead in this benchmark test. The Snapdragon X Elite scored 2,574 in the single-core test and 12,562 in the multi-core test.

However, when compared to Apple’s older M2 Pro chip with 12 CPU cores, it comes pretty close to matching the performance. Perhaps, the 80W version of the X Elite would be able to compete with Apple’s M3 chipset and cross the 3,000 mark in the single-core test.

Also, bear in mind that OEMs might be running various SKUs of the chipset to test the performance under different conditions, so I would suggest taking these results with a pinch of salt.

Windows laptops powered by Qualcomm’s new chipset are likely to hit the market by June 2024. Once commercial devices are released, we will be sure to test them and pass a conclusive judgment. Meanwhile, what do you think about Snapdragon X Elite’s performance compared to Apple’s?