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| The Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme has shown up on Geekbench |
The tech world has been buzzing since CES 2026 in Las Vegas. Asus, HP, Lenovo, and Dell all took to the stage to flaunt sleek, next-generation laptops powered by Qualcomm’s unannounced Snapdragon X2 Elite chip. The presentations were flashy, the promises were bold, but there was one glaring omission: you couldn’t actually buy one.
Months later, global shelves remain empty of production-ready X2 Elite devices, leaving Qualcomm’s ambitious performance claims hanging in the air, unverified. Until now.
Thanks to a fresh batch of benchmark listings, the veil has been partially lifted. The flagship variant of the Snapdragon X2 Elite, the Extreme Edition X2E-96-100, has just taken a spin through Geekbench, and the results are nothing short of explosive.
The CPU: Chasing Apple, Leaving Intel and AMD in the Dust
According to the listing, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme posted a single-core score of 4,033 and a multi-core score of 23,198 on Geekbench 6.5.
To understand what these numbers mean, we have to look at the competitive landscape. For the last two years, Apple’s M-series chips have been the undisputed kings of laptop performance-per-watt. Qualcomm’s new silicon finally puts that crown at risk.
- vs. Apple M4 Max: Qualcomm’s single-core score of 4,033 edges out the Apple M4 Max (which sits around 3,880). This aligns perfectly with Qualcomm’s earlier claims of having the fastest CPU core in the industry. However, in the multi-core test, Apple strikes back; the M4 Max’s 25,760 score remains the top dog, though the X2 Elite is breathing down its neck.
- vs. AMD "Strix Halo": AMD had a strong 2025 with its Ryzen AI Max+ "Strix Halo" chips, which were hailed as mobile workstations. The X2E-96-100 leaves them in the dust, demolishing the flagship Strix Halo's scores of roughly 2,947 (single) and 18,481 (multi).
- vs. Intel Panther Lake: Intel’s next-generation Core Ultra X9 388H "Panther Lake" was expected to be a fierce competitor. With scores around 3,066 and 17,809, it falls significantly short of Qualcomm’s new silicon.
You can view the full CPU benchmark details and specifications here:
Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-96-100 Geekbench CPU Listing
The GPU: Promising Power, Glitchy Data
A second listing gives us our first look at the graphical prowess of the chip. The integrated Adreno X2-90 GPU managed a score of 44,786 points in the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark.
For context, that is nearly double the performance of the last-generation Adreno X1-85 GPU found in the first-gen Snapdragon X Elite chips, which scores around 23,854.
However, before we declare this the return of high-end mobile gaming, a massive asterisk hangs over this data. Geekbench reports that the GPU has 16 Compute Units (CUs), which sounds plausible, but the clock speed is logged at a physically impossible 1 MHz.
At such a low reported frequency, the score of 44,786 cannot be taken at face value. It is likely an underreporting error by the benchmarking software, or the test was run on pre-driver silicon. If the GPU is scoring nearly 45k while being misreported, the real-world performance—especially in gaming workloads—could be substantially higher.
You can inspect the GPU benchmark data here:
Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-96-100 Geekbench GPU Listing
The "X2" Factor and the Nvidia Shadow
While the GPU benchmarks are currently too fuzzy to draw concrete conclusions from, the CPU data is crystal clear: Qualcomm has delivered on its "lofty claims."
This puts the company in a commanding position to finally establish Windows-on-Arm as a legitimate, high-performance platform, not just a battery-sipping alternative. If the thermal management in the upcoming Asus and HP laptops is solid, these chips could be the default recommendation for mobile productivity users.
But Qualcomm can’t afford to rest. The competitive window is tight. Rumors are swirling that Nvidia is preparing its own Arm-based PC chips, reportedly codenamed "N1X," slated for release later in 2026.
For now, however, the Snapdragon X2 Elite holds the performance crown. The only question that remains is the one that has been hanging since CES: Where are the laptops?
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| Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-96-100 Geekbench GPU performance |
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| Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-96-100 Geekbench CPU performance |