The Snapdragon X2 Elite is a high-performance chipset that brings significant upgrades over its predecessor. CPU, GPU, and AI performance have all seen sharp improvements.
The move to a 3nm node addresses the first-gen's weakness while delivering excellent power efficiency.
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With these major upgrades, the Snapdragon X2 Elite rivals some of the most powerful chips on the market, including the Apple M5.
Both deliver top-tier performance with a strong focus on battery life. It's interesting to see how these two chips compare.
Can the Snapdragon X2 Elite finally outclass Apple's long-standing dominance in single-core performance? Note that there are multiple variants of the Snapdragon X2 Elite.
For this comparison, we focus on the top version (X2E-90–100) against the standard Apple M5 (10-core CPU/10-core GPU).
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Spec sheet comparison
- Announced: Snapdragon X2 Elite – September 2025; Apple M5 – October 2025
- Process Node: Both 3nm (TSMC)
- Total CPU Cores: Snapdragon X2 Elite – 18 cores; Apple M5 – 10 cores
- Core Configuration: Snapdragon X2 Elite – 12 x 5.0 GHz Prime cores, 6 x 3.4 GHz Performance cores; Apple M5 – 4 x 4.6 GHz Super cores, 6 x 3.0 GHz Efficiency cores
- Total Cache: Snapdragon X2 Elite – 53 MB; Apple M5 – 24.4 MB
- NPU Performance: Snapdragon X2 Elite – Qualcomm Hexagon NPU up to 80 TOPS; Apple M5 – 16-Core Neural Engine
- Memory Bandwidth: Snapdragon X2 Elite – 228 GB/s; Apple M5 – 153 GB/s
- Memory Type: Snapdragon X2 Elite – LPDDR5x (up to 9523 MT/s); Apple M5 – LPDDR5x (up to 9600 MT/s)
- SSD/NVMe Interface: Snapdragon X2 Elite – Dual PCIe 5.0; Apple M5 – Proprietary Apple Fabric
- Cellular Modem: Snapdragon X2 Elite – Snapdragon X75 5G modem up to 10 Gbps download, 3.5 Gbps upload; Apple M5 – none
- Wi-Fi: Snapdragon X2 Elite – Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 (Wi-Fi 7, 6E, 6); Apple M5 – Apple N1 (Wi-Fi 7, 6E, 6)
- Bluetooth: Snapdragon X2 Elite – v5.4; Apple M5 – v6
Benchmark scores
In Cinebench 2026, the single-thread test measures raw CPU architecture performance.
Apple still leads in single-thread performance, with the M5 scoring 731 points versus the Snapdragon X2 Elite's 676 points – an 8% advantage for Apple.
However, multi-threaded scores tell a different story.
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The Snapdragon X2 Elite scores 6459 points, significantly ahead of the Apple M5's 3680 points in the multi-threaded CPU test.
Geekbench v6.7 confirms Apple's single-core lead: the M5 scores 4226 points against the Snapdragon X2 Elite's 4037.
But Qualcomm's chip bounces back in multi-core, achieving 20,544 points versus Apple's 17,313 – an 18% boost for the Snapdragon.
Both Cinebench and Geekbench show the same trend: Apple M5 excels in single-core, while Snapdragon X2 Elite dominates multi-core.
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We'll update this post with more benchmark data as we receive it.
