Snapdragon X2 Elite Tops Apple M5 in Multi-Core Benchmarks

Snapdragon X2 Elite Gains in Multi-Core Benchmarks

Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon X2 Elite at the Snapdragon Summit in September 2025, and PCs powered by the chipset are expected to hit the market in the first half of 2026. The new chip has now reportedly surfaced in early benchmarks, with comparisons being made against Apple's M5 chipset. The leaks suggest Qualcomm's next-generation Snapdragon X2 Elite could bring Windows-on-Arm devices closer to Apple Silicon in raw performance metrics.

Single-Core Edge Remains with Apple M5

Early benchmark tests of a company-provided, pre-production Asus Zenbook unit powered by the Snapdragon X2 Elite were conducted by Hardware Canucks. It's worth noting that the laptop in the video is shown as running early firmware and drivers, while the chip isn't final, too, offering only a glimpse of its capabilities.

Benchmark results indicate the comparison bases Cinebench, Blender, and HandBrake testing. In leaked Cinebench 2024 results, the Snapdragon X2 Elite posted a multi core score of 1,432, which is ahead of the Apple M5's 1,153 in the same test. This suggests an improvement in heavily threaded workloads, such as during video editing and rendering.

However, the Apple M5 chip maintained its advantage in single core performance, with 200 points in Cinebench's single core test versus the X2 Elite's 146, which suggests that Apple will maintain its lead.

In Blender 5.01 rendering benchmarks, the Snapdragon X2 Elite completed the task in approximately 3 minutes and 31 seconds, while the M5 took about 5 minutes and 33 seconds to finish the same job. In HandBrake video transcoding, the X2 Elite wrapped up the workload in 3 minutes and 29 seconds, compared with the M5's 5 minutes and 14 seconds.

Both of the aforementioned benchmarks indicate that Qualcomm's new flagship PC chip may pull ahead of the M5 silicon in multi core and content creation workloads. Apple's chip, meanwhile, appears to lead in single-core responsiveness, indicating its proficiency in lightly threaded applications.

Qualcomm claims its new Snapdragon X2 Elite platform delivers up to 31 percent better performance at ISO power and consumes 43 percent less power than the preceding Snapdragon X Elite chip. The chipset platform is designed for scaling form factors, which means it can be used across a range of laptops, 2-in-1 PCs, and devices with other form factors.

• Cinebench multi-core score: X2 Elite 1,432 vs M5 1,153
• Cinebench single-core: X2 Elite 146 vs M5 200
• Blender 5.01 render time: X2 Elite ~3:31 vs M5 ~5:33
• HandBrake transcoding time: X2 Elite ~3:29 vs M5 ~5:14
• Power and efficiency: up to 31% better at ISO power; 43% less power than preceding X Elite
• Form factor scope: designed for laptops, 2-in-1 PCs, and other form factors

The article notes that early benchmarks come from a pre-production device and may not reflect final hardware or software versions. The tests were conducted by Hardware Canucks on an Asus Zenbook unit and involve firmware and driver versions not final.