It seems that Copilot PC+ laptops with Snapdragon X Elite are not very popular. Poor compatibility, mediocre performance, high price — what could go wrong?
Despite great ambitions and expectations Qualcomm to control more than 50% of the market Windows over the next five years, the latest statistics show that laptops with Snapdragon X Elite did not attract consumers. Of all the PCs sold in the third quarter of 2024, Qualcomm processors were used in 720,000 units — only 0.8% of the total market, one out of every 125 devices.
The number of AI PCs is growing, but it’s thanks to the fact that virtually every new processor is equipped with a Copilot PC+ compliant NPU. In the third quarter, 13.3 million NPU PCs were shipped, up 20% quarter-on-quarter, including Qualcomm X Elite.
There was a 180% increase in X Elite sales from Q2 to Q3 2024, and Qualcomm chips are used by less than 1.5% of Windows PCs. The poor perception is primarily due to unoptimized software or the lack of it — for example, we are talking about Microsoft’s late release of the official Windows 11 image for Arm. Linux support is also not as good as for x86. The long battery life of these computers does not change the situation critically.
Qualcomm is preparing to release budget laptops X Elite next year. According to rumors, the new generation of X Elite chips, which will be released in 2025, will be based on the third version of the Oryon 3 core. But don’t expect a radical change in the situation. In any case, compatibility will still be a problem.
Sources: Tom’s Hardware, TechRadar