How Successful Was Qualcomm in 2024?
Qualcomm tried to change the entire PC industry in 2024, but how successful is it in 2025? Let’s see, the market share of PC came to 0.8%, which doesn’t seem so big to me.
However, they did very well in the AI PC race and sold AI-enabled PCs in a very good way.
But a small thing, can they make a big comeback in 2025 here? Because they have announced their new Snapdragon X chip. Which looks like it will come in an affordable Windows laptop and compete directly with Intel AMD.
They will get a better chip than them here. So what’s going on, let’s know the story behind it.
A Look Back at Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus
First of all, we were talking about last year, the Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus came on ARM-based architecture.
The best thing with them was that the efficiency was very good, the power draw was low, the battery life was long, and the high-end performance was excellent.
Even a lot of people were gaming, and even the AI performance was very good. And first of all, Microsoft’s Co-Pilot Plus laptops came with these chips.
The Price Barrier: Why Snapdragon Needed a Change
But yes, these chips were not in the market, their prices were very high. And usually, the laptops that were starting in India were above Rs 100,000.
Then the XLE type, laptops of Rs 80,000-90,000, but they were also expensive. So these people are solving all these things.
Introducing the Snapdragon X Chip
The new chip of the X series is called Snapdragon X. And it has been made for affordable Windows laptops, which will start at Rs 600.
That is, in India, you can see laptops of around Rs 50,000-55,000. Which in the range of Rs 50,000, if a good laptop comes, then it will not look good to anyone.
Snapdragon X: Features and Performance
Because if we talk about it, the same things have been taken care of here, which was in the expensive processor. First of all, in performance, there is an 8-core chip, in which you have the architecture of X1-2600.
Here you are getting to see the maximum clock frequency of 3GHz, 30MB cache.
At the same time, you are getting to see the performance of 45 tops in AI. Which was also in their X Elite, X Plus, and Snapdragon X.
That is, the AI tasks will be able to do all these things in exactly the same way here.
Competing with Intel and AMD
Along with this, the GPU has also been made solid. And if I compare it with its Intel competitor, then here the Intel Core i5-120U chip comes.
With this, they are getting better efficiency, better performance in benchmarks, and performing better than that.
This is a very good thing that it is directly beating a processor like Intel Core i5. Which comes in the category of thinner.
Power Efficiency with 4nm Process
On top of that, Snapdragon X is based on the 4nm TSNC process, due to which the power efficiency is less. And along with it, its power draw is less than Intel and AMD chips.
These are some advancements, due to which this processor will be suitable for those entry-level laptops.
In which people need a long battery life. Due to which they can crack this particular market very well.
App Compatibility and Emulation Improvements
Along with this, the next problem was with Snapdragon X Elite. That in that time, the non-ARM apps were very much.
Now by 2025, a lot of ARM versions of apps have come here. Which will perform very well. And the emulation technology has also been made very strong from behind.
Here Microsoft has also worked, SQLcom has also worked. Here people have used the Prism emulation, which was of the old X86 architecture.
To use it in ARM, which will be used for translation in the middle of the apps. It has been made more advanced than before. Due to which things will run better here.
Major Brands Join In
If we talk about the current situation, HP, Lenovo, Dell, all companies have announced that they will remove the laptops of this type. In the Indian market too, such laptops will be seen here.
Budget Laptops Without Compromises?
Now let’s talk about why this big thing happens here. In today’s time, most laptops whose price comes below 40,000 or 50,000.
They often have a lot of compromises. And one of the major compromises is about battery life. If you want battery life in a thin, light laptop, then you have to spend a lot of time.
Like Intel’s Intel Evo platform laptops, whose price starts from 70,000 to 80,000. The battery life is good there. There is not much battery life in the range of 50,000.
The Promise of AI on a Budget
So here they are focusing on battery life. Plus, they are focusing on good performance.
Plus, they are building such laptops that are an overall quality product. And give you AI enabled tasks. Because in today’s time, you can’t buy such a laptop for 50,000.
In which you get the feature of Microsoft’s Co-Pilot Plus. And Co-Pilot Plus is the same in which you can do some AI tasks in the laptop even if you are not connected to the internet.
Like watching a video, using AI to create subtitles. Or in the new Microsoft Paint, you can generate an image. Or using AI to do video editing. All these things will be possible here.
Can Snapdragon Really Win This Time?
However, it will be interesting to see how people adopt it. Because now this laptop category is looking like. Where Snapdragon can make a big comeback and grab a big market share here.
And can give a big bump to Intel and AMD’s monopoly. Because in this category of laptops, you don’t get to see such advanced processors.
Affordable Power and Variety
One more good thing I found here. With Snapdragon X, the price will be low and the variety will be a solid choice. And after Snapdragon X, ARM enabled applications. Which will be optimized apps according to Snapdragon processor. Their support will also increase rapidly here. So this will also be a very good thing.
The Ideal Laptop for Students and Office Users
For those who need more battery life. Especially students or people who work in the office. For those who need more battery life. For those people, these processor laptops can make a very good choice here.
Smartphone Tech Meets PC: A New Era?
It is very good to see that Snapdragon is slowly bringing the technology of its mobile phone into their laptops. It is a very good thing that it is advancing them.
What’s Next?
However, it will be interesting to see. When its laptops will come, how will they perform here. At the moment, Snapdragon X is looking very good.
It is giving a good performance. And yes, those who have to do basic gaming. They will also be able to do gaming here.
Can You Game on Snapdragon X?
For those who don’t know. Snapdragon’s integrated GPU is also very powerful. And yes, I have run GTA V in Snapdragon X Elite.
So yes, if a game like GTA V is running in it. So that’s a good thing. Which is with on-board graphics. So if the on-board graphics technology is better.
If all these things run well. Then it can be a good compelling competition. And in the market, you can see good laptops at an affordable price. I liked this one thing a lot.
Final Thoughts: An Exciting Future Ahead
Let’s see what happens in the future. The era of AI laptops and AI PCs will increase a lot. AMD will also launch new chips. Intel will also launch new chips.
It is also being heard that here. NVIDIA is working on its ARM-enabled chips. Where more focus will be placed on AI. So it’s going to be a very interesting time. Especially for the PC industry. Where some new things are opening up in chips.
What Do You Think?
If Snapdragon X powered laptops come. Then you will be a little interested in these laptops. Or you will prefer to go on the old Intel or AMD.
