Snapdragon X Series

Winsage
May 27, 2025
The Windows laptop market has shifted towards devices powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, moving away from traditional Intel and AMD architectures. This initiative, known as Windows on Arm, has produced notable products like the Asus ZenBook A14 and Dell XPS 13, which are praised for their performance in AI applications and impressive battery life. These devices can run Intel-based applications through an emulation layer called Prism, which translates x86-64 code into ARM64 instructions, allowing compatibility with non-native software. While they perform well for office tasks and some creative applications, limitations exist in gaming and high-demand software due to the need for specific drivers and graphics performance. Currently, the market features three Windows on Arm processors: Snapdragon X Elite, X Plus, and X. Pricing for these laptops often exceeds ,000, making Intel and AMD options more appealing for budget-conscious consumers.
Winsage
May 15, 2025
Developers are focusing on optimizing applications for the newly launched Copilot+ PCs, which feature advanced system architecture, all-day battery life, and the ability to run AI models directly on the device. The initial Copilot+ PCs are powered by Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus silicon, with AMD and Intel also introducing compatible processors. Microsoft’s App Assure Program provides guidance and technical support to help developers optimize applications for these devices, particularly for Arm-based Snapdragon X Series devices. NordVPN is a notable example of a company that successfully utilized the App Assure program to develop an Arm-optimized version of their application. The program includes the Arm Advisory Service, which allows developers to consult with Microsoft engineers for a smoother development process. Other companies, such as Proton VPN and F-Secure, have also benefited from the App Assure team in optimizing their applications for the Windows on Arm platform.
Winsage
May 12, 2025
The Asus ZenBook A14 is a lightweight laptop that weighs over 23% less than the MacBook Air and is crafted from a material called Ceraluminum, making it 30% lighter than aluminum and nearly three times stronger. It features a variety of ports, including two USB-C (v4.0) ports, a USB-A port, and an HDMI 2.1 port, offering more connectivity options than the MacBook Air. The keyboard provides satisfying feedback and ample travel, while the Windows Hello authentication system offers convenient security. The laptop has a 14-inch OLED display with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels and performs well with applications from Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, although it struggles with heavier workloads in Da Vinci Resolve. The ZenBook A14 has a battery life of around eight hours on a single charge.
Winsage
April 2, 2025
Microsoft has announced that all Copilot+ PCs, including those with AMD Ryzen AI 300 series and Intel Core Ultra 200V processors, will now have access to AI-driven features, previously limited to Snapdragon devices. Features available include Live Captions, Cocreator, Restyle Image, and Image Creator, though some functionalities, like photo resizing, remain exclusive to Snapdragon-powered PCs. The Voice Access feature is currently limited to Snapdragon devices, with plans for AMD and Intel compatibility later this year. Upcoming features will be available through the March 2025 Windows non-security preview update, following the November 2024 update, and will be rolled out gradually via Windows controlled feature rollout. Users can access updates by navigating to Settings > Windows Update.
Winsage
March 14, 2025
Epic Games and Qualcomm are collaborating to enhance gaming on Windows devices with Snapdragon chips by integrating support for Easy Anti-Cheat. This partnership addresses the challenge of adapting anti-cheat software, which is primarily designed for x64 architecture, to work with Snapdragon devices. Epic aims to test and refine this support through Fortnite, which could improve anti-cheat measures for a wider range of multiplayer games on Snapdragon-powered devices.
Winsage
March 14, 2025
Epic Games has partnered with Qualcomm to integrate Fortnite and its Easy Anti-Cheat software into Snapdragon X Elite PCs. This collaboration aims to tackle compatibility issues between Windows applications and Snapdragon devices due to differences in x86 and Arm instruction set architectures. The introduction of Easy Anti-Cheat is expected to facilitate the addition of more games on Snapdragon PCs, depending on developer support. Despite the potential of Snapdragon X Elite PCs for gaming, app support has been limited. Fortnite is set to launch on these devices later this year, paving the way for more titles. Easy Anti-Cheat requires kernel-level access, making it incompatible with emulation layers, which presents challenges for running conventional Windows applications designed for x86. Epic Games aims to improve anti-cheat support for other games through this initiative, although not all games may receive support due to potential performance issues with emulation.
Winsage
December 6, 2024
The Applied Sciences team has developed the small language model (SLM) Phi Silica, which enhances power efficiency, inference speed, and memory efficiency for Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs using Snapdragon X Series NPUs. Phi Silica is designed for on-device use and supports multiple languages, featuring a 4k context length. Microsoft announced that developers will have access to the Phi Silica API starting January 2025. The Copilot+ PCs can perform over 40 trillion operations per second, achieving significant performance improvements when connected to the cloud. Phi Silica utilizes a Cyber-EO compliant derivative of Phi-3.5-mini, and its architecture includes components such as a tokenizer, detokenizer, embedding model, transformer block, and language model head. The model's context processing consumes only 4.8mWh of energy on the NPU, with a 56% improvement in power consumption compared to CPU operation. Phi Silica features 4-bit weight quantization for efficiency, rapid time to first token, and high accuracy across languages. The model was developed using QuaRot for low-precision inference, achieving 4-bit quantization with minimal accuracy loss. Techniques like weight sharing and memory-mapped embeddings were employed to optimize memory usage, resulting in a ~60% reduction in memory consumption. Innovations such as a sliding window for context processing and a dynamic KV cache were introduced to expand context length. The model has undergone safety alignment and is subject to Responsible AI assessments and content moderation measures.
Winsage
November 30, 2024
Copilot+ PCs are equipped with exclusive features, including built-in Neural Processing Units (NPUs) that enhance AI capabilities. They offer superior baseline specifications, with entry-level models featuring at least 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The latest Copilot+ PC processors, such as the Intel Core Ultra Series and Qualcomm's Snapdragon X series, provide improved performance and battery life. AI features like Windows Recall and enhanced search capabilities are exclusive to Copilot+ PCs, making them a forward-thinking choice. Non-Copilot+ PCs may not provide expected savings, as many first-generation Intel Core Ultra laptops remain expensive. Various Copilot+ PCs are available across different price points, including the Dell Inspiron 14 for 0, HP OmniBook X for 0, Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 for around ,000, and Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge for 0.
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