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.
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).
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.
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.
We'll update this post with more benchmark data as we receive it.
