Qualcomm recently unveiled the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme SoC as its latest foray into the world of Windows on Arm hardware. It claimed that the new processor would deliver up to 75% higher CPU performance and a 2.3 × improvement in performance per watt. Now, following the post-launch hype, independent benchmarks are starting to appear and show what Qualcomm didn't on-stage. The most recent set of benchmarks comes from ComputerBase, the German-language outlet known for its in-depth hardware testing, and it shows that Qualcomm's claims of CPU performance were surprisingly impressive. Although it also becomes clear why Qualcomm stuck to performance per watt instead of focusing too much on raw GPU performance.

According to the ComputerBase review , the Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme was able to outperform Apple's best and brightest, the Apple M4 Pro, in both Cinebench 2024 and Geekbench 6.3 multicore benchmarks, scoring 1,964 and 23,693 points, respectively. Results are a little less consistent when it comes to single-core scores, with the Apple M4 Pro pulling ahead of the Snapdragon SoC by 7% in the Cinebench 2024 single-core test but falling behind the X2 Elite Extreme by 7% in Geekbench 6.5. NPU performance was also impressive, with the X2 Elite Extreme's 80 TOP NPU coming out undefeated, at 128% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 9 288V in the ASUS Zenbook S 14. Unfortunately, that seems to be where the good news for Qualcomm ends—mostly. When it comes to GPU tests, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme remains well behind the Apple M4 Pro in both the 3DMark Steel Nomad Light Unlimited and 3DMark Solar Bay Unlimited tests, scoring 5,687 points and 22,946 points, respectively. While that puts the new Arm silicon a solid 37-40% ahead of the nearest competing iGPU, the Apple M4 10-Core, it is still 37-46% behind the Apple M4 Pro in GPU benchmarks. It remains to be seen how this translates to real-world gaming performance and actual CPU workloads, given the translation layer that Arm SoCs currently still rely on for many non-native Windows apps and games, but it's an impressive showing nonetheless.