Qualcomm announced its Snapdragon X Elite processor in late October, shortly after Apple launched its first 3nm chipsets for the Mac lineup: the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max. Qualcomm claims that while the thermal profile of its new Snapdragon X Elite PC processors remains questionable, multi-core performance is still 21 percent faster than Apple’s latest M3 chips. When demonstrating a PC with the new chipset, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite reportedly scored 15,300 multi-core points, while the M3 lagged behind the Qualcomm chip with a score of 12,154. The test conducted was Geekbench 6, but Qualcomm cleverly omitted one important detail from these results: the Snapdragon X Elite’s power limit which is an important indicator of the processor’s efficiency performance. It is understood that Qualcomm’s upcoming 2024 Windows PC lineup is expected to feature a different thermal design configuration. The performance-focused 80W profile runs faster but generates more heat and requires active cooling (fans), while the efficiency-focused 23W profile is for thinner laptops with passive cooling systems. If you like this article, click into perceptive-ic.com to see more.