- Laptops with Nvidia’s N1X will arrive in the first quarter of 2026, according to rumors
- That means these laptops should debut in the next two months.
- More models will follow in the second quarter of 2026, and the next-generation N2 series should launch later in 2027.
Nvidia’s big consumer chips for PCs, the Arm-based N1 and N1X, could finally be coming if a new rumor is correct.
A report from DigiTimes (hat tip to VideoCardz) claims that laptops with Nvidia’s N1X chip inside will launch in the first quarter of 2026. So, within the next two months.
These will target the consumer market, and we’re told three more variants will go on sale in the second quarter. Presumably that includes the entry-level N1 chip, which is less powerful but still intended to produce ‘high-end AI computing platforms’ – the N1X is the highest-performance CPU that will be aimed at professional laptops, the report notes.
There is still some confusion surrounding the name and where exactly the N1 and N1X will fit into the CPU landscape, with some assuming that the N1 will be a desktop chip and the N1X a mobile (laptop) chip. However, DigiTimes makes it clear that both the N1 and N1X will appear on laptops (add your own seasoning, naturally). However, that doesn’t mean there couldn’t be a desktop variant of one of these chips as well, and perhaps it’s still planned.
After the N1 series, the next-generation N2 silicon will take over from Nvidia in the third quarter of 2027, the report states.
Obviously, be skeptical about that particular time frame, because even if Nvidia has plans for these N2 chips, this timeline may end up going awry (with the silicon still in a relatively early phase of development).
Analysis: a chip that worries AMD, Intel, Qualcomm and even Apple?
We’re told the rumor comes from supply chain sources, and the delay of the N1 series, which was supposed to arrive in late 2025 based on original speculation about Nvidia’s Arm CPU, is due to the Green team fine-tuning these chips and “Microsoft OS schedules,” the report claims.
The latter presumably refers to Windows 11 26H1, which is a new version of the operating system specifically for Snapdragon are not Arm (AMD and Intel).
Even so, we must be cautious because, as has already been pointed out. I don’t rate DigiTimes as one of the most reliable sources out there, but it can occasionally unearth useful and accurate supply chain rumors. The supposed launch timing seems pretty credible given what I just described, and we’ve also heard rumors suggesting similar plans in the past, such as an Alienware laptop with an Nvidia CPU targeting a launch in the first quarter of 2026.
Those past rumors indicate why the N1X is also a chip we’re excited about, and why not just Qualcomm, but Intel and AMD (as well as Apple) might be very concerned here. Remember that rumors consider the N1X’s integrated graphics to be, in terms of raw core count, the equivalent of the RTX 5070 GPU. If you’re expecting RTX 5070-level performance in a laptop, think again: I’ve discussed why in the past (it’s due to power envelope and temperature, and also memory issues). But even so, the N1X is still shaping up to be a high-performance chip for portable gaming (or creative use), make no mistake.
Back to the DigiTimes rumor, and if you wanted to argue against this report, you could point out that this is a difficult climate to be launching new silicon for laptops, given predictions of a drop in PC sales due to rising laptop prices embroiled in the current RAM (and storage) crisis. However, if Nvidia were to make the decision to wait, the problem is how long would the company have to hold out? The RAM crisis isn’t going anywhere in the foreseeable future (it could last until 2028), so Nvidia biding its time until all of this passes is not a realistic option.
A better question is if these laptops are so close, why didn’t Nvidia show off the N1X at CES 2026 recently? I don’t have an answer for that, except that maybe Team Green wants to do a standalone launch that completely puts the spotlight on this new Arm-based silicon to make a big splash at the entry of these laptops.
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