Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon C chips are now surrounded by more question marks. Despite Qualcomm releasing benchmark comparisons last week, there are new unknowns about the processors.

Last week, Qualcomm shared details about its Snapdragon C chips online and highlighted the updated information to media outlets. I covered the news, as did several other outlets. Tom's Hardware discussed the specs and benchmarks, but it has since had Qualcomm reach out with an update.

A Qualcomm representative asked Tom's Hardware to replace slides originally shared by Qualcomm with updated versions. Unlike the slides first sent out, the new slide does not show benchmark information for how Snapdragon C chips perform when powering idle apps or when web browsing.

The remaining benchmarks are still impressive, such as Snapdragon C delivering up to two times better power efficiency than Intel N250 when running Netflix or Edge. But considering some claims have been removed, I think many people will want to see Snapdragon C in the wild before making any decisions.

Snapdragon C is a new chip from Qualcomm designed for low-cost devices that start at around $300. The chips promise power efficiency and responsive performance for budget-friendly systems.

Until recently, we knew little about the chip in terms of hard specs. But we now have core counts, benchmark comparisons, and other details.

The Snapdragon C will power Windows 11 on ARM devices. That platform has improved greatly over the last few years in terms of compatibility, so much so that app compatibility is no longer a concern for Windows 11 on ARM for most users.

One of the few remaining areas where Windows 11 on ARM struggles is gaming, but since budget laptops starting at $300 are unlikely to be gaming PCs, that shouldn't be much of a concern for Snapdragon C.

Questions about Snapdragon C

When I covered the Snapdragon C benchmarks last week, I noted that the only information we had came from Qualcomm and that we'd need to see verified results from independent tests. I also highlighted that Qualcomm did not share how the chips performed when plugged in, instead leaning on unplugged performance that often favors Snapdragon processors when compared to Intel.

I did not expect the benchmarks shared by Qualcomm to become unknowns. We now have no information about the performance of those chips when powering idle apps or during web browsing.

Qualcomm did not share many details with our colleagues at Tom's Hardware about why the old slide had been changed. The company simply said the change was made to "improve clarity and relevance."

The fact that Qualcomm let the presumably incorrect or out-of-date slide go unchecked for almost a week is also worrying.

Web browsing is a key part of the budget laptop experience, so accurate benchmarks in that category will be pivotal for anyone shopping for a PC.

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I was absolutely blown away earlier this year by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 platform after spending a month with Lenovo's Slim 7x (Gen 11). The System-on-Chip (SoC) was fast and efficient on or off the charger, and it came in a sleek 14-inch package.

A new commissioned study from the independent testing group Signal65 has basically confirmed my arguments, this time after testing the flagship X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) variant in retail systems you or I can buy.

Here's the main blurb from the whitepaper's key findings:

This sentence alone might not be telling you anything new, especially if you've experienced the X2 Elite Extreme firsthand. But let me break down the findings to explain a bit better what Signal65 dug up.

Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme goes up against Intel and AMD

Signal65 tested the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme against the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H and AMD Ryzen AI 9 465 laptop CPUs. These are two of the latest chips from each company, found today in thin and light Windows laptops.

Testing the chips in Geekbench 7, Signal65 found the X2 Elite Extreme to be "up to 53% faster" than Intel's chip and "up to 83% faster" than AMD's chip.

In Cinebench 2026, which is used to test multi-thread rendering performance, the X2 Elite Extreme was "up to 87% faster" than the Intel and AMD chips.

What's even more impressive is that Signal65 separately tested the X2 Elite Extreme on battery power with the Balanced Windows power profile. With the Intel and AMD systems plugged in and set to Best Performance, the X2 Elite Extreme still outperformed the competing chips in all AI and CPU benchmarks.

Besides raw CPU power, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme also outperformed its rivals in the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) arena. Qualcomm's specialized chip that runs AI locally almost hit 2x the AI performance compared to Intel, climbing to about 2.4x the performance of AMD's NPU in the Procyon AI Computer Vision test.

It's well worth noting that the X2 Elite Extreme's Hexagon NPU hits 80 TOPS, compared to 50 TOPS in the Intel and AMD chips. This might explain some performance discrepancy, but not to this extent.

Rumors of the X2 Elite Extreme's power were not exaggerated

In February 2026, I covered early testing from Hardware Canucks that showed how the non-Extreme X2 Elite chip beat Apple's M5 in three major tests. These tests were performed using a sample/reference unit from Qualcomm itself.

In March 2026, we got an early look at what Qualcomm had cooked up with its X2 Elite Extreme. Leaked Geekbench 6 performance results showed that the Snapdragon chip could trounce the Core Ultra X9 388H, boding well for its competition against Intel's Panther Lake generation.

To say I had high hopes for Snapdragon X2 is fair, and I'm glad to see that performance in actual laptops you or I can buy hasn't dropped off compared to early reference systems.

A few things to consider when poring over Signal65's data

This report from Signal65 was commissioned by Qualcomm, but there's no reason for me to think that any of the numbers were fudged. Signal65 is independent and generally credible.

There's also the fact that these chips were tested in three different laptops from three different manufacturers.

For the test, Signal65 used an ASUS Zenbook A16 (X2 Elite Extreme), an MSI Prestige 16 (Intel Core Ultra), and an HP OmniBook X 16 (AMD Ryzen. Three 16-inch laptops ranging between $1,649 and $2,299.

Because of OEM-level decisions for cooling and power, the different laptops could affect the results. However, I don't think it would affect them enough to sway the paper's overall thesis.

It's also worth pointing out that Intel still leads the way with its integrated Arc B390 graphics, at least in Signal65's tests. It also bested Snapdragon in one Office battery rundown test.

As for value, the $1,699 Zenbook A16 with X2 Elite Extreme is only bested by the $1,649 OmniBook X 16 with AMD Ryzen. Intel might beat Qualcomm in graphics and in one battery rundown test, but the MSI Prestige 16 in which it was tested costs $2,299.

Qualcomm is not only delivering superior performance and battery life, but it's also delivering laptops at a better price than its competition.

Windows Central's take

Qualcomm's first-gen Snapdragon X chips are really what changed the Windows on ARM conversation after so many years. They weren't good enough to get everyone to drop Intel and AMD, but they were a solid foundation.

And now, with Snapdragon X2, Qualcomm has evidently stepped things up in a major way. If you've used a laptop with an X2 chip, you probably already know exactly what I'm talking about.

Have you had a different experience with your Snapdragon X2 PC? What's your main gripe? On the other hand, what do you love most about your X2 PC? Let me know in the comments section below!

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The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (Gen 11) is one of the best laptops we've reviewed all year. Our Cale Hunt called the PC a "top choice for students, small business pros, and even casual Windows users who want a premium laptop." Now, thanks to a YouTuber, the laptop can also claim the title of a streaming battlestation.

YouTuber "DevonDoesTech" used the Yoga Slim 7x to power his streaming and content creation setup for a 17-hour stream marathon. DevonDoesTech was sent the laptop by Qualcomm and tested the PC by using it as the heart of his stream.

The latest Yoga Slim 7x runs on a Snapdragon X2 processor. The one DevonDoesTech used has the Snapdragon X2 Elite inside. The idea behind the stream was to see how the chip handled real-world usage.

It's a clever way to showcase the new chip from Qualcomm. Snapdragon X processors have had respectable specs for a while, but posts about the chips on social media often include people asking about app compatibility.

An Arm blog post from July 2025 stated that 90% of time spent on Windows on ARM PCs is spent on natively compiled apps. Since then, NVIDIA has announced RTX Spark, which adds another major name to the Windows on ARM platform.

But boasting about how many apps are natively compiled is not the same as showing ARM-based PCs can actually be used to get work done. The DevonDoesTech stream required OBS Studio, Meld Studio, DaVinci Resolve, Discord, and other apps.

DevonDoesTech streamed for over 1,000 minutes during his stream. The setup had both a horizontal stream on YouTube and a vertical stream on Twitch that ran simultaneously.

"I didn't notice a difference. Never once during the 17-hour stream, never once during my testing, never once during my road trip did I say 'Dang, I really wish that I had the power of my desktop computer.'"

He added that the Yoga Slim 7x is "kind of blowing [his] mind."

While ARM-based computing has come a long way, there are still games that do not work with Snapdragon X chips. Kernel-level anti-cheat is required for some games and is still an awkward spot. But even in that area there's promise for improvement.

It's not just DevonDoesTech

DevonDoesTech's praise is quite effusive, but it aligns with our own experience. The Yoga Slim 7x earned a 4.5 out of 5 in our review and Hunt said the Snapdragon X2 Elite chip and the laptop are a "blast" to use.

After using a PC with a Snapdragon X2 for one month, Hunt was "totally sold on Snapdragon X2." He also spoke on app compatibility:

"For a fairly casual Windows user like me, ARM64 app compatibility is a complete non-issue. You can see for yourself if the apps you use are native or emulated on the extremely useful WorksOnWOA website."

There was a time when ARM-based laptops were lackluster compared to their x86 counterparts. I'm happy to see those days are behind us.

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We now have more details about Qualcomm's Snapdragon C chips. The processors were officially announced in May, but we did not have full specs or details at the time.

Snapdragon C chips are designed to power budget laptops that start around $300. Qualcomm has updated its product pages for the processors, including full specs.

The specs are promising and stack up well against offerings from competitors, such as the Intel N250. Qualcomm shared some favorable comparisons between Snapdragon C and Intel N250 that suggest Qualcomm's new chip could compete very well in the budget laptop space.

Snapdragon C specs and details

Snapdragon C promises up to 67% faster performance than Intel N250 according to Qualcomm. The biggest difference between the chips appeared in Cinebench MT testing, but Snapdragon C defeated Intel across a range of Qualcomm's tests.

Those performance tests are when both chips are running on battery power, which leans in Qualcomm's favor. Snapdragon processors often thrive in unplugged testing.

Qualcomm claims Snapdragon C delivers 106% better power efficiency during Netflix playback. Microsoft Teams (99% better) and YouTube (86% better) are both wins for Snapdragon C as well.

Power usage by idle apps is 39% better in power efficiency, according to Qualcomm.

Snapdragon C has a dedicated NPU, which helps with AI tasks. I doubt AI usage will be heavy among budget laptop users, so CPU performance and other specs will likely be bigger factors for those shopping for affordable PCs.

Windows 11 on ARM has improved greatly when it comes to app compatibility, so that should not be as much of a concern as it would have been just a few years ago. For many people, app compatibility is no longer a concern for Windows 11 on ARM.

There are some legacy and enterprise apps that are not compatible with Snapdragon C and other ARM-based processors, but the list of the best native Windows on ARM apps continues to grow and includes big-name and niche apps.

For non-native apps, Microsoft's Prism emulation has improved over the years as well. That means even apps running in emulation perform better.

What we still don't know about Snapdragon C

The official specs of Snapdragon C are promising, as are the figures shared by Qualcomm. But there are still several key facts we do not know, some of which won't be confirmed until laptops with the new chips launch.

We also need to know how the chips perform when laptops are plugged in and how that performance compares to that of Intel chips.

All of the claims about performance and efficiency come straight from Qualcomm, so we'll need to see them verified independently.

Qualcomm has a good track record with claims like this. Benchmarks and comparisons shared with the press about previous chips proved accurate in real-world testing.

Qualcomm has always been bullish about how well its Snapdragon processors perform when unplugged compared to Intel's chips. Qualcomm had an entire ad campaign highlighting differences on that front.

I'm confident that Snapdragon C chips will perform well and compete with similar chips from Intel, but we need concrete figures from the wild and hands-on experiences to know exactly how the new chips stack up.

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The ASUS Zenbook A16 is not a gaming laptop, but what if it were a gaming desktop? One YouTuber sought to find out what happens when you connect an eGPU to the Zenbook A16. The results are surprising and show a promising potential future for gaming on Arm processors.

Connecting the Zenbook A16 is not something for the faint of heart. Until recently, it was not possible to connect any GPU to a Snapdragon X-powered laptop, even if you were willing to use unofficial methods.

ETA Prime connected an RTX 4060 to a Zenbook A16 using the developer driver for RTX Spark. That GPU is also from NVIDIA, and its driver can be installed on a PC like the Zenbook A16 to connect an RTX 4060.

Obviously the setup is not official or optimized, but it does work to an extent. Some other NVIDIA GPUs were also successfully connected, but ETA Prime saw the best performance with the RTX 4060.

ETA Prime runs through all of the specific hardware used, but the heart of it all is the AOOSTAR AG03 Thunderbolt 5 & OCuLink eGPU Dock.

The Zenbook A16 was able to hit impressive framerates and settings when connected to the RTX 4060.

In ETA Prime's video, you'll see Forza Horizon 6, Cyberpunk 2077, Project Cars 2, and DOOM: The Dark Ages at very respectable framerates and settings.

Hitting those framerates often required frame generation, but gameplay looks smooth. In Cyberpunk 2077, ETA Prime was able to hit the low 40s at high settings without frame generation and the low 70s with frame generation.

The Zenbook A16 runs on a Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme processor, which is quite speedy. But the chip leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to graphics. On top of that, games are not always optimized for Windows on Arm, so you can end up with issues like Halo: Campaign Evolved missing textures and having a transparent ground.

Experimentation by ETA Prime and Ghobso Gaming (who tested Halo: Campaign Evolved) shows that Snapdragon X2 chips are capable of playing games. But those processors lack support and optimization.

If drivers ship and game developers embrace Snapdragon X-powered PCs, we could see a significant jump in gaming on Windows 11 on Arm.

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