2024 was a year of banner for Qualcomm in Computex, with the mass launch of its Snapdragon X elite laptop processors that placed it at the forefront of the event. In fact, the main presentation of Qualcomm last year was so impressive that the winners of the event declared them, with invited stars of many of the best laptops, including Microsoft, HP, Dell and Asus, along with the CEO of Qualcomm, Cristiano Amon.
During today’s key note in Computex 2025, things were a bit more subjected. There are no exciting chip ads here; Instead, Amon took the stage and discussed progress (certainly quite good) that Qualcomm has achieved with the Snapdragon platform during the past year. A key factor he pointed out was the rapid growth in applications compatible with the Snapdragon X Elite platform, along with the more than 1,400 games that can be played on Snapdragon laptops.
Like last year, Amon showed the impressive Tirón de Qualcomm in the Windows computer market despite entering only the CPU fight with Intel and AMD last year. The Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, made a brief appearance in the presentation, along with ASUS and HP executives.
There were also some shameless blows in Intel and Apple (the latter with respect to the fact that Fortnite is totally playable in Snapdragon hardware), in addition to the large number of corporate nonsense on how AI is revolutionizing … something. Honestly, I tuned a little there, until Amon lit a live portable computer on the stage that proceeded to ask him questions (presumably cured by humans) about Qualcomm’s hardware in a voice of synthesin robot. Pretty great, I guess, but what really caught my attention was a teaser at the end of the main presentation.
What follows Snapdragon?
So, although we did not obtain new Qualcomm chips in Computex, it seems that we now have a tacitly announced date for the next generation of Snysdragon X Systems On-A-Chip (SOCS). It is September 23: the date of the Qualcomm event itself, Snapdragon Summit, which will take place in Hawaii.
What are we obtaining exactly in September? Amon did not say, only that “the revolution continues” and “I promise you that they will impress you.” Even so, there are some quite reasonable assumptions that I am willing to do here.
Although the names of names are still a bit in the air (since we are only one generation in the chips of the Windows laptop of Qualcomm), the current popular assumption is that the next -generation socates will use the nickname ‘Snapdragon X2’, so I will go with that here. I hope that the initial launch present both X2 Elite and X2 Plus chips for premium laptops and medium range markets, with wide integration in most productivity portable computer manufacturers; Dell’s XPS series, Asus’s Zenbooks, Lenovo’s Yoga Line, The Works.
A Snapdragon X2 ” basic ‘chip will probably continue a little later (similar to the way the Snapdragon X chip was announced in the CES in January of this year), providing a more conscious alternative of the budget. But I am more interested in the rumored chip Snapdragon X second generation elite for desks …
A desktop revolution?
Will we get a snapdragon x2 elite unintegrated? I would not bet on that; Until now, we have only seen Snapdragon chips in compact PCs of people like Lenovo. So do not expect to see a third option beyond Intel and AMD when it comes to base plates for DIY PC, but expect more PC and systems such as the best computers all in one.
While ‘Team Q’ (still carving that name, I am open to suggestions!) It could be a newcomer to this particular industry area, it has had a great impact. Cristiano Amon’s key note included a somewhat surprising statistic: from the last quarter, Qualcomm now has about 9% of the integrated processors market for the United States and the 5 main European markets. Taking into account fierce competition, it is a very impressive performance.
Given how much Qualcomm changed the game with the arrival of its first X Elite Chips last year, I think the use of the word ‘revolution’ could be justified here. I don’t say that lightly; It is a phrase that often bothers me to see that it is used to describe extremely marginal changes. But with Qualcomm finally making Windows on the arm work with the Snapdragon X series, I have great hope for what the team that does next.
