Tag: Snapdragon Summit 2025

As AI computing gradually becomes a core requirement for next-generation devices, processor design is no longer just about competing on traditional CPU and GPU performance. The key to future platform success lies in simultaneously achieving energy efficiency, AI acceleration capabilities, and providing a consistently stable experience across diverse application scenarios. Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme and Snapdragon X2 Elite series PC-grade processors, announced at Snapdragon Summit 2025 this year, build on the success of last year's Snapdragon X Elite, aiming to compete head-on with Apple, Intel, and AMD in the high-performance PC design application field. This article will use Qualcomm's actual performance test data to deeply analyze the performance of the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme in CPU, GPU, and NPU, comparing it with comparable processors such as the Apple M4, Intel Core Ultra 9, and AMD Ryzen AI 9. Finally, it will discuss the challenges and opportunities this processor faces in the market and ecosystem. ▲Snapdragon X2...

Regarding the newly announced Snapdragon X2 Elite series PC-level processors, Mandar Deshpande, Senior Director of Product Management at Qualcomm, pointed out in a subsequent interview that the modular design, which integrates the memory chips along with the processor, is primarily intended to enhance the processor's performance and highlight its Extreme specifications. ▲The QRD reference design using the Snapdragon X2 Elite series processor features 48GB of memory. The modular packaging design pre-installs 48GB of memory, which Mandar Deshpande explained was the result of numerous considerations, including improving memory transfer efficiency and ensuring sufficient memory capacity for executing large natural language models. The actual memory configuration remains flexible, depending on the specific product design needs of OEMs and ODMs. Regarding the decision not to further adopt a memory co-packaging design in the Extreme design, Qualcomm's current explanation is based on a balance between practical benefits and costs, while also considering the flexibility of OEMs and ODMs in application design. Otherwise, it could have followed Apple's approach with its Apple Sillicon processors or Intel's Lunar Lake laptop processors, further integrating memory and processor dies into a single package to achieve higher memory data access efficiency and improve power saving. However, this would reduce the flexibility in application product design costs. Furthermore, regarding the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme's ability to support memory addresses exceeding 128GB, Mandar Deshpande stated that there was no specific communication regarding a maximum capacity limit, primarily to give OEMs and ODMs greater flexibility in application product design (and considering cost, it's unlikely to significantly exceed 128GB). ▲The Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme uses a modular design that integrates memory chips for greater core stacking and performance. Regarding the Snapdragon X2 Elite...

At the final day of Snapdragon Summit 2025, HUMAIN, a subsidiary of the Saudi Public Investment Fund focusing on AI development, announced the launch of an AI PC powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor. The company emphasized that this PC will serve as the platform for its HUMAIN Pro enterprise AI service. HUMAIN CEO Tareq Amin stressed that the AI ​​PC is not a rebranded product, but rather designed and built in Saudi Arabia through deep collaboration with the supply chain. It features a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, a 14-inch 2.8K resolution OLED screen, a 1080p webcam, and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity. Furthermore, HUMAIN's AI PC boasts integration of its large-scale natural language model with ALLaM 34B parameter specifications, claiming to offer professional services from over 120 AI experts, including 35 PhD-level specialists, and advocacy on gender equality. Users can interact simply by speaking or issuing text commands to receive answers or complete designated tasks as a proxy AI. ▲HUMAIN CEO Tareq Amin emphasized that its AI...

At the Snapdragon Summit 2025 event in Hawaii, Qualcomm focused on its newly launched flagship mobile computing platform, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and the new Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme and X2 Elite, designed to strengthen its presence in the PC market. The company also elaborated on its vision for future AI applications and explained how it will collaborate with the industry. ▲Qualcomm anticipates AI applications will become a key competitive focus, building a larger-scale, truly integrated AI user experience. Qualcomm's main focus at the event was on mobile computing platforms and a new computing platform designed for the PC market. While not emphasizing wearable technology or smart automotive applications as in the past, the company stressed the importance of connecting all computing platform usage scenarios through wireless communication technology, enabling seamless AI applications across different devices. Qualcomm also emphasized that AI applications will be the future trend, and that AI will become the primary interactive interface in the future. Therefore, Qualcomm spent considerable time in its announcement communicating its new Hexagon NPU design to drive higher AI computing power. It also highlighted how the same generational architecture allows AI applications to seamlessly integrate with mobile devices and PCs, and even continue to be used on more platforms. Furthermore, it aims to enable proxy AI to better meet user needs and provide timely and appropriate assistance, such as intuitively confirming upcoming schedules, providing timely reminders of tasks, or helping to arrange gatherings. ▲ AI applications are one of the key features of this new computing platform. However, simply emphasizing the changes its computing platform can bring is not enough to convince the market. Therefore, during the event, Qualcomm also discussed AI and the changes that proxy AI applications can bring with many industry players. For example, regarding its collaboration with Adobe, Qualcomm stated that it will enable Adobe's creative tools, including Photoshop, to run natively on Windows laptops using Snapdragon X-series PC processors. It will also leverage Adobe's Firefly AI technology to accelerate content creation efficiency and help more people turn their creative ideas into real works. ▲ Qualcomm's collaboration with Adobe makes its creative tools more easily usable natively on Windows on Snapdragon devices, accelerating creative efficiency with AI. In a joint statement with Samsung, this not only reaffirms the close partnership between the two companies in mobile devices but also highlights how Qualcomm technology will help drive Samsung's Galaxy AI and realize its proposed environmentally aware AI applications, allowing AI technology to improve people's lives at all times. Furthermore, through Paage.AI, AnythingLLM, Collov.AI, and even deep collaborations with Microsoft, Qualcomm explains that it can bring AI applications to more life and work scenarios through its computing platform, making AI a more important tool and resource, rather than just a laboratory demonstration project or a fun user experience, but truly assisting in various matters. Continuing to drive a larger market ecosystem requires not only continuing to collaborate with market players to build a larger AI application scenario but also persuading more people to choose and use its products. Firstly, it needs to compete with x86 architecture processor applications in the existing PC market and with Mac models in the face of Apple's complete shift to Arm architecture. Qualcomm has already addressed this through its recently updated, fully autonomous Orion architecture...

Alongside announcing the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile flagship computing platform, Qualcomm also explained that this platform is the first to support APV (Advanced Professional Video) codec, focusing on professional-grade video shooting and post-production control. In a subsequent explanation, Judd Heape, Vice President of Product Management at Qualcomm, stated that this codec specification was jointly proposed by Qualcomm, Adobe, Google, ArcVideo, Company3, Blackmagic, Dolby, Samsung, and other industry players, and is provided as open source, aiming to enable professional videos to be accessed more efficiently and flexibly. ▲Qualcomm explains that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile flagship computing platform is the first to support APV (Advanced Professional Video) codec, focusing on professional-grade video shooting and post-production control. Because it is provided as an open-source specification, Qualcomm hopes to collaborate with more industry partners to promote the widespread adoption of this specification and compete with Apple's ProRes specification, which is also provided as open source. Furthermore, it will provide more software and devices with more options beyond the currently licensed H.265 specification. However, even though devices using the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile flagship computing platform will gradually enter the market soon, devices that actually support APV encoding will not be available until 2026. Qualcomm explained that this is because the market still needs some time to adjust and prepare. As for the features of APV encoding, in addition to storing image data with a file size that is 10% smaller than ProRes, it also supports 4:4:4 and 4:2:2 10-bit image formats, while the encoding rate is between approximately 3Gbps and 4Gbps. It boasts the ability to record higher color depth with a smaller storage footprint and maintain higher data transmission efficiency. ▲ Emphasizing that APV encoding can record higher color depth with less storage space and maintain higher data transmission efficiency. ▲ Reducing file size by 10% compared to ProRes. Furthermore, Qualcomm also emphasizes its collaboration with Microsoft to enable more Windows PCs to support APV-encoded content. This means that footage shot on Snapdragon-powered phones or other devices supporting APV encoding can be directly integrated into subsequent editing processes on a Windows PC, maintaining image quality with the same encoding. This establishes a more complete image production workflow and application ecosystem. On the other hand, just as Apple's ProRes format allows its products to meet the needs of most shooting and professional production, establishing a brand image and boosting sales, Qualcomm's APV encoding, offered as open source and promoted in collaboration with numerous ecosystem partners, aims to increase its market influence and brand image. ...

Update: According to Cindy Lei, Director of Product Management at Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 will maintain its flagship positioning based on the current Snapdragon product design. Last year's Snapdragon 8 Elite and the updated Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 will represent an even more uncompromising "ultra-flagship" positioning. Therefore, Qualcomm's flagship computing platform products will add "Elite" to the existing "standard" design, along with the previously simplified specification of adding an "S" to the name suffix, to further differentiate them and meet the market's demand for more segmented high-end flagship smartphones. At the Snapdragon Summit 2025 event in Hawaii, Qualcomm announced the new generation mobile flagship computing platform Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and at the end of the event, also revealed a small surprise: the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, which can be considered a sub-flagship, is expected to be announced later this year. The name suggests that Qualcomm will launch both the flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and the near-flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 this year, further segmenting the flagship market.

At the Snapdragon Summit 2025 event in Hawaii, Qualcomm officially launched two new PC-class processors, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme and Snapdragon X2 Elite. Both are designed for Windows PC applications and are manufactured using TSMC's third-generation 3nm process (N3P). They feature a third-generation Oryon CPU with Qualcomm's custom architecture, a newly designed Adreno GPU, and a new-generation Hexagon NPU, boasting breakthroughs in performance and energy efficiency, while also supporting higher AI computing power and longer battery life. ▲The Snapdragon X2 Elite series officially unveiled, built on TSMC's third-generation 3nm process, the first Arm-based CPU with a clock speed of up to 5.0GHz. The Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme is positioned in the "ultra-flagship" market, targeting professional creators, high-end business users, and professionals who need to handle complex computing tasks. Leveraging the third-generation Oryon CPU, it delivers higher CPU performance under the same power consumption conditions, and is 75% faster than competing products in the same class. It is also the first Arm-based CPU with a clock speed of up to 5.0GHz. ▲This updated computing platform boasts significantly improved performance, with the new Adreno GPU architecture delivering up to 2.3 times the efficiency and power efficiency. The new generation Hexagon NPU drives AI computing power up to 80 TOPS. Qualcomm touts the NPU in the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme as having the world's fastest computing power, capable of Copilot+...

Qualcomm unveiled its new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile flagship computing platform in Hawaii, touting it as the "fastest design ever" and emphasizing significant improvements in AI computing, gaming performance, and image processing. This time, we conducted various benchmark tests and usage scenario verifications using the Qualcomm Reference Design (QRD) test unit provided by Qualcomm. The results show that this new mobile flagship computing platform, built on TSMC's third-generation 3nm (N3P) process, truly sets a new performance benchmark. ▲ The QRD reference design for the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile flagship computing platform features significantly enhanced core specifications. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 uses TSMC's third-generation 3nm process and features a third-generation Orion CPU design, with two Prime cores operating at up to 4.6GHz and six performance cores operating at up to 3.62GHz. Qualcomm states that the CPU performance is 20% higher than the previous generation design and supports the Armv9 instruction set, enabling even higher execution performance. The GPU utilizes a newly sliced ​​Adreno GPU with a clock speed of 1.2GHz, combined with the Adreno HPM design, delivering up to 23% better graphics performance and supporting display output at up to QHD+ resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate. AI is also a key focus of this update. The new generation Hexagon NPU offers 37% better performance than its predecessor, enabling complex multimodal inference with lower power consumption. It also supports a dual Micro NPU design, allowing personalized AI assistants, real-time perception, and generative AI applications to be activated faster or run continuously. For imaging, the Snapdragon 8 Elite...

At Snapdragon Summit 2025 in Hawaii, Qualcomm announced its new generation flagship mobile computing platform, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, touted as the world's fastest mobile system-on-a-chip (SoC). It integrates Qualcomm's third-generation Oryon CPU, the new Adreno GPU architecture, and the Hexagon NPU, delivering up to 20% better CPU performance and 23% better GPU graphics performance. It also improves AI inference speed by 37%, pushing the mobile device experience to new heights. ▲Qualcomm officially unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 flagship mobile computing platform, touted as the world's fastest mobile SoC. Compared to its predecessor, the Snapdragon 8 Elite, the new platform not only further improves performance and energy efficiency but also introduces a new Agentic AI architecture. This allows the phone to learn user habits in real time, supporting personalized operations across applications. It allows AI assistants to evolve from passive responses to proactive understanding, providing pre-emptive suggestions and becoming true personal digital assistants. A faster, more power-efficient flagship mobile platform, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, confirmed to support the Armv9 instruction set, is manufactured using TSMC's third-generation 3nm (N3P) process. Model number "SM8850-AC" features a new third-generation Oryon CPU, delivering higher performance and energy efficiency. It boasts a 20% performance increase over its predecessor at the same power consumption, easily handling multitasking and demanding applications. The Adreno GPU, with its next-generation slicing architecture, provides smoother gameplay and improved performance per watt, significantly extending battery life during gameplay. ▲ Featuring the new third-generation Oryon...

At the Snapdragon Summit 2025 technology conference in Hawaii, Qualcomm President and CEO Cristiano Amon stated that AI will become the next generation of "user interfaces," and Agentic AI will become the mainstream application form. Therefore, Qualcomm's future computing platform development will further focus on Agentic AI application capabilities. At the same time, Qualcomm also announced that its commercially designed 6G mobile network application products will be launched in 2028, leveraging the faster transmission speeds and higher data rates of 6G mobile networks to specifically support the development of more AI applications. Regarding Agentic AI becoming the next application interface, Cristiano Amon pointed out that the Snapdragon Summit technology conference has been held for 10 years. Except for the first year held in New York, subsequent events have been held in Maui, Hawaii, where many products that change the computing experience have been announced. The conference has also witnessed the development of mobile networks from 4G to 5G and many changes in computing methods. For example, Qualcomm began promoting perceptual computing in 2022, progressing to AI interaction by the 2024s, and this year it anticipates that AI will become the "interface" for many future computing interactions. Users will have more natural and intuitive interactions with computing devices such as mobile phones through AI, and devices can even better understand individual user needs through AI and proactively assist in completing various tasks. Qualcomm expects to launch 6G mobile network application products pre-designed for commercial use by 2028. In Qualcomm's view, AI computing will span different devices and be closer to users' actual needs. Therefore, regardless of which smartwatch, smart glasses, or mobile phone a user chooses to wear, or even use, they can quickly and seamlessly connect to allow AI to collaborate across devices and complete user-assigned tasks as a proxy AI, and even anticipate precautions. To achieve this user experience, Cristiano Amon stated that in addition to requiring a certain level of AI computing power on the device itself, the actual application must also be compatible with higher wireless network connectivity. This is precisely Qualcomm's technological strength. He further announced plans to launch pre-designed 6G mobile network application products in 2028, bridging the gap in the expanding AI user experience. He also anticipates incorporating AI computing capabilities into the design of these 6G mobile network application products, ensuring their network bandwidth configuration better meets actual needs. While the industry's current timeline projects widespread adoption of 6G mobile networks by 2030, this is not surprising considering that 5G mobile networks were commercially available in 2018. From a technology company's perspective, launching practical application products earlier than actual commercialization is essential to securing greater market influence and more business opportunities. Besides Qualcomm, Samsung had already announced in July 2020 that it would commercialize its 6G mobile network technology as early as 2028. Other companies, including Huawei, NEC, and Nokia, are also expected to deploy their 6G mobile network technologies ahead of schedule. In addition to announcing the launch of pre-designed 6G mobile network applications in 2028, Qualcomm also emphasized its long-standing partnership with Google at the Snapdragon Summit, highlighting that even though Google has switched to using its own processors in its Pixel phones, the collaboration between the two companies remains strong. Rick Osterloh, Google's Senior Vice President of Hardware and Services, explained that there are currently several product collaborations with Qualcomm, including Project Moohan, a virtual reality headset developed in collaboration with Samsung, and Project Aura, an augmented reality glasses product built on Android XR, developed in collaboration with XREAL. There are also many collaborations on the Android Auro platform. He also revealed that Google's next PC computing device will use the Snapdragon computing platform, and it is expected that, as Google previously announced, it will integrate the two major operating systems, Android and Chrome OS, and move towards a unified platform strategy across devices.