According to Windows Central, Qualcomm has officially unveiled the Snapdragon X2 Plus chip at CES 2026, targeting the crucial mid-to-upper-range Windows laptop market. The chip comes in two versions—a 10-core model and a 6-core model—both built on a 3nm process and featuring the same 80 TOPS Hexagon NPU as the flagship X2 Elite. In live benchmarks, the 10-core version outperformed Intel’s current Core Ultra 7 265U and 256V processors, sometimes by a dramatic margin, while using significantly less power. Qualcomm promises multi-day battery life and says the first laptops from major OEMs like HP, Lenovo, and ASUS will ship in the first half of 2026, priced in the $799 to $1,299 range. This chip is positioned to be the volume driver for Arm-based Windows PCs, bringing high-end features like Snapdragon Guardian for enterprise manageability to mainstream machines.
This Isn’t a “Lite” Chip
Here’s the thing that makes the X2 Plus interesting: it’s not some stripped-down budget part. It’s basically using the same premium architecture as the X2 Elite, just with fewer cores or slightly lower clocks in the 6-core variant. They kept the really important stuff, like that monster 80 TOPS NPU and support for up to 128GB of fast LPDDR5x memory. That means for AI workloads and general responsiveness, a laptop with this chip should feel far more capable than its price tag suggests. It’s a smart play by Qualcomm. They’re not just competing on the bleeding edge anymore; they’re building a full stack to attack every segment, and for companies needing reliable, efficient hardware for business fleets, this could be a very compelling option. In fact, for industrial and manufacturing settings where reliability and long-term performance are paramount, platforms like this are key, which is why specialists like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs, focus on integrating such stable, high-performance computing cores into ruggedized designs.
The Real Test Comes Next
But, and there’s always a but, the timing is crucial. Qualcomm’s numbers look great against Intel’s *current* Core Ultra 2 chips. The problem for them is that Intel’s next-gen Core Ultra 3 “Panther Lake” processors are literally weeks or months away. Those chips are built on a new Intel 18A process and promise big leaps in efficiency and graphics, with an NPU around 50 TOPS. So the window where the X2 Plus looks like a clear winner might be pretty short. That said, Qualcomm has one ace in the hole: consistency. The report emphasizes that these chips run cool and don’t throttle on battery power. Intel and AMD have struggled with that in thin laptops for years. If Qualcomm can deliver that “plugged-in” performance even when you’re unplugged, that’s a tangible everyday benefit that spec sheets don’t always capture.
The Mainstream Moment for Arm?
This really feels like the play for the heart of the market. Most people aren’t buying $2,000 laptops. They’re buying the machines in that $800-$1300 sweet spot. If Qualcomm can flood that zone with devices that have killer battery life, solid performance, and best-in-class AI capabilities, it could fundamentally change the landscape. They’re also removing a big enterprise barrier by including remote manageability features that compete with Intel vPro. So is this the moment? It might be. The app compatibility issues are fading fast, and the performance is demonstrably there. The wild card is Panther Lake. If Intel closes the efficiency gap and boosts its graphics and NPU performance significantly, the choice gets a lot harder for buyers. Basically, 2026 is setting up to be an epic fight in the PC space, and honestly, that’s great for all of us. More competition means better laptops, period.
