When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. More TOPS, more cores, more challenges to lead Windows on Arm into a meaningful presence on the PC with the Snapdragon X2 Elite and Extreme. On Wednesday, Qualcomm announced three new Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme processors for PCs, pushing into what it calls'ultra-premium PCs' with a 5GHz CPU and an NPU delivering an industry-leading 80 TOPS. Qualcomm made a name for itself with all-day battery life, but its new "multi-day" battery life received little mention in the context of the X2 Elite chips for Windows on Arm PCs. Now, it's all about speed: the X2 Elite platform delivers 31 percent more performance than the X1 Elite at the same power, or the same performance at 43 percent less power.

Qualcomm just launched its new Oryon CPUs and the Snapdragon 8 Elite at the Snapdragon Summit in Maui. While these chips might be designed for phones and not PCs, the next-gen Oryon CPU core within those chips could be headed to PCs in a future iteration of the Snapdragon X Elite. Referring to the new CPU as just a "second-generation Oryon CPU core," Qualcomm isn't giving it a definitive name -- but the company is making a substantive change: adding "prime" cores while also tweaking the performance of its existing performance cores. To be clear, Qualcomm hasn't explicitly stated that the new Oryon cores are headed to PCs, or even that a PC version of these new Oryon cores would have the same configuration as the Snapdragon X Elite. The Snapdragon 8 Elite is headed to phones, with many of Qualcomm's existing customers building smartphones around the new chip.

The race to build the most compelling AI PC processors continues with the launch of Intel's Core Ultra 200V. At Computex in June, we learned these "Lunar Lake" laptop chips would feature a powerful 48 TOPS (tera operations per second) neural processing unit for AI work, and, surprisingly enough, they'd also sport up to 32GB of built-in memory for faster performance and lower power consumption. Today at Germany's IFA trade show, Intel has given us an even closer look at its next-generation AI PC hardware. According to Intel, the Core Ultra 200V will be "the most efficient x86 processor ever," with up to 50 percent lower on-package power consumption. In addition to bringing memory directly on the chip, Intel also doubled the cache and core count (reaching 4MB and 4 cores) for its "Low Power Island," which handles less demanding work.

It's only been four months since we reviewed the latest Intel version of the XPS 13, but now Dell has released a model built for Microsoft's Copilot AI PC initiative. But with that mobile-focused hardware comes new expectations: More battery efficiency than Intel's x86 chips, as well dramatically faster AI capabilities thanks to its beefier NPU (neural processing unit). As with all Arm-based Windows systems, though, there's also the potential for trouble with older x86 apps, which may run slowly through emulation or simply not launch at all. It's undoubtedly a chaotic time for the PC industry, as chipmakers and PC companies build for an uncertain AI-powered future. For consumers, that just means confusion.

Ever since Apple's MacBooks switched to the company's homegrown M-series chips, Windows users have wondered when a similar revolution would happen to their machines. To Microsoft's credit, it hasn't been for a lack of trying. Way back in 2012, the company released the Surface RT with an Arm-based processor, which is the same architecture used in Apple's silicon. Unfortunately, a tiny app library, sluggish performance and limited software compatibility made using one full-time kind of frustrating. Then in 2017, Microsoft renewed its efforts with Windows on Snapdragon. This led to systems like the Surface Pro X, which sported gorgeous hardware that was once again marred by lackluster processing power and spotty software support.

It's the dawn of a new era in Microsoft's eyes as the first wave of Copilot PCs are now available as of June 18. This "new class of Windows PCs," as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella describes them, contains hardware designed to run as many generative AI processes locally as possible, rather than having to rely on data centers. These laptops all have an Arm-based Snapdragon chipset from Qualcomm that includes a neural processing unit (NPU) to handle such tasks. Microsoft has stipulated that Copilot PCs need to have at least 40 TOPs (tera operations per second) of NPU performance, and 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage at minimum. The systems each have a dedicated Copilot button on the keyboard and they're all slated to have strong battery life.

It just revealed a bunch of new hardware and plans for Windows. Copilot PCs were the big announcement, designed to run generative AI processes locally instead of in the cloud. Of course, Microsoft had new Surface devices to showcase these features, but the usual PC suspects also have new laptops that meet the spec requirements -- and include Copilot in their name for added chaos. The company also claims Copilot PCs are 58 percent faster than the M3-powered MacBook Air. We'll drill into some other announcements down below.

Today might be the coming-out party for Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chips and a sizeable number of laptop partners, but Intel wants to remind you that it will reveal its next-gen Core Ultra mobile chips, code-named "Lunar Lake," in roughly a week's time. Intel executives, in what was clearly an effort to distract from the launch of a number of PCs powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite, said that Lunar Lake is currently in production and is on track to ship in the third quarter. Intel's next desktop processor, "Arrow Lake," is on track to ship during the fourth quarter of 2024. Microsoft launched its Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 with Snapdragon X Elite chips inside at a launch in Redmond, Wash., alongside several laptop vendors using Qualcomm's chip running on Windows on Arm, including Lenovo, Dell, and Acer. In response, Intel executives added to what we already know about Lunar Lake on Monday.

Normally, Microsoft's Build is a straightforward (often dry) showcase of the company's software and hardware developments, with a dash of on-stage coding to excite the developer crowd. But this year, the company is likely to make some huge AI moves, following its 2023 debut of ChatGPT-powered Bing Chat. In fact, Microsoft has a showcase for new Surfaces and AI in Windows 11 on May 20, while Build actual kicks off a day later. The Surface event might be the most impactful. Rumors suggest we'll see some of the first systems with Qualcomm's Arm-based Snapdragon X Elite chip alongside new features in the next major Windows 11 update. A refresh for its consumer PCs is likely to consist of new 13- and 15-inch Surface Laptop 6 models with thinner bezels, larger trackpads, improved port selection and that X Elite chip.

If you can't tell by now, just about every tech company is eager to pray at the altar of AI, for better or worse. Google's recent I/O developer conference was dominated by AI features, like its seemingly life-like Project Astra assistant. Just before that, OpenAI debuted GPT 4o, a free and conversational AI model that's disturbingly flirty. Next up is Microsoft Build 2024, the company's developer conference that's kicking off next week in Seattle. Normally, Build is a fairly straightforward celebration of Microsoft's devotion to productivity, with a dash of on-stage coding to excite the developer crowd.