Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme vs. Apple M4: Does Qualcomm’s next-gen chip give the M4 series proper competition?

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On September 24th at its yearly event in Hawaii, Qualcomm unveiled its latest Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme chip. Members of the press, including our Editor-in-Chief Daniel Rubino, were present for a live demonstration to evaluate how well it performs.

Qualcomm’s newest processors, built on the ARM64 platform, are proving to be serious rivals to Apple’s M4 chips, which also use the ARM design.

I don’t have actual performance data yet – we’ll need to wait until laptops with the X2 Elite Extreme chip are released early next year. However, I can share how it’s predicted to stack up against Apple’s M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips.

This comparison focuses on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors, which combine a CPU, GPU, and NPU all into one chip.

Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme vs. Apple M4: CPU performance

Qualcomm tests its processors using a specific laptop model with 48GB of RAM. Keep in mind that the actual performance of the X2 Elite Extreme chip in laptops from different manufacturers may vary due to differences in how those laptops manage heat and power.

Despite being tested against Apple’s M4 chip in a 14-inch MacBook Pro, the X2 Elite Extreme’s Oryon CPU performed better in Geekbench 6.5 benchmarks.

In single-core performance, the X2 Elite Extreme achieved a score of 4,080, surpassing the M4’s score of 3,872. It also outperformed the M4 in multi-core tests, with a score of 23,491 compared to the M4’s 15,146.

The standard M4 chip comes with either 8 or 10 processing cores, but the X2 Elite Extreme boasts 18. It’s currently unknown which M4 version Qualcomm used when making its performance comparisons.

The Apple M4 Pro, with either 12 or 14 processor cores, is more comparable to the X2 Elite Extreme. In Geekbench 6.5 multi-core tests, it scores around 22,500 points – about 1,000 points lower than the Qualcomm chip.

As a tech enthusiast, I’ve been following the M4 Pro’s performance, and it generally scores around 3,800 to 3,900 in Geekbench 6.5 single-core tests. But honestly, the Intel Core Ultra X2 Elite Extreme is still leading the pack with an impressive score of 4,080!

Apple’s most powerful M4 Max chip, with either 14 or 16 processor cores, scores over 25,000 in the Geekbench 6.5 multi-core test, significantly outperforming the 23,491 score achieved by the X2 Elite Extreme.

I’ve been testing both chips, and the X2 Elite Extreme consistently outperforms the M4 Max when it comes to single-core performance. While the M4 Max usually maxes out around 3,850 to 3,900 points in those tests, the X2 Elite Extreme consistently scores higher.

In Geekbench 6.5 tests, Qualcomm’s X2 Elite Extreme processor outperformed both the Apple M4 and M4 Pro chips. While the M4 Max won in multi-core performance, the X2 Elite Extreme still managed to beat it in single-core tests.

What about Cinebench?

Qualcomm shared performance results from Cinebench 2024, a tool that tests how well the processor handles tasks using a single core and multiple cores.

During testing on a standard Qualcomm laptop, the X2 Elite Extreme processor achieved a score of 162 in single-core performance and 1,988 in multi-core performance.

Single-core Multi-core
Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme 159-162 1,937-1,988
Apple M4 (10-core) 172-180 950-1,000
Apple M4 Pro (14-core) 172-180 1,690-1,700
Apple M4 Max (16-core) 175-180 2,020-2,060

When comparing Apple’s M4 chips, the X2 Elite Extreme generally performs about 10 to 15 points lower in single-core tests.

When it comes to tasks that use multiple processor cores, the X2 Elite Extreme performs surprisingly well. It’s faster than both the 10-core and 14-core versions of the M4 chip, and only slightly slower – by around 60 to 70 points – than the more powerful 16-core M4 Max.

Okay, so I’ve been following the benchmarks for the new Qualcomm X2 Elite Extreme chip, and here’s the quick rundown: it’s *almost* as fast as Apple’s M4 chip when you’re looking at single tasks. But when it comes to doing a lot of things at once – like video editing or running tons of apps – the X2 Elite actually beats out the 10-core and 14-core versions of the M4 Pro! Of course, the M4 Max with its 16 cores is still the king when it comes to serious multi-tasking, but the X2 Elite is seriously impressive.

Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme vs. Apple M4: NPU performance

As a tech fan, I’m really excited about NPUs – Neural Processing Units. They’re built to handle AI tasks right on your device, and honestly, they’re becoming a total game-changer. With AI features popping up everywhere in PCs, having a dedicated chip like an NPU to run things smoothly is super important.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme boasts a powerful Neural Processing Unit (NPU) capable of 80 TOPS, exceeding the performance of NPUs found in chips from Intel, AMD, and even Apple’s M4, which delivers 38 TOPS.

In the Procyon AI Computer Vision benchmark, Qualcomm achieved a score of 4,151, while Apple’s M4 scored 2,121.

The X2 Elite Extreme achieved a top score of 88,919 in the Geekbench AI 1.5 benchmark, significantly outperforming the M4, which typically scores around 52,000.

In simple terms, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme’s neural processing unit (NPU) is significantly faster than the NPU in Apple’s M4 chip – it performs over twice as many operations per second.

Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme vs. Apple M4: GPU performance

The new Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme features a significantly improved Adreno GPU. It’s over twice as powerful as the GPU in the original X Elite chips and now includes support for ray tracing, enhancing graphics quality.

In testing, Qualcomm’s X2 Elite Extreme processor achieved a score of 90.06 on the 3DMark Solar Bay benchmark – a test that measures ray tracing performance. This significantly outperformed Apple’s M4 processor, which scored 62.7 in the same test.

The M4 Pro, equipped with a 20-core GPU, achieves a score around 126.1, surpassing the X2 Elite Extreme. However, the Apple M4 Max GPU, whether it has 32 or 40 cores, still delivers the best performance.

In the 3D Mark Steel Nomad Light test, Qualcomm achieved a score of 42.61. While the standard M4 chip couldn’t reach that level, the M4 Pro, equipped with a 20-core GPU, surpassed it with a score of 58.1.

As an analyst, I’ve been looking at graphics performance, and here’s the quick takeaway: the integrated GPU in the X2 Elite Extreme actually outperforms the one in the base Apple M4 chip. However, when we tested with Solar Bay and Steel Nomad Light, the more powerful M4 Pro and M4 Max chips from Apple came out ahead.

Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme vs. Apple M4: Major takeaways

The new Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme is a significant improvement over the original X Elite, and it’s now a stronger competitor to Apple’s powerful M4 chips.

Initial tests reveal the X2 Elite Extreme outperforms both the M4 and M4 Pro when it comes to general CPU tasks. However, the M4 Max remains the fastest option for demanding, multi-core workloads.

As a tech enthusiast, I’m really impressed with Qualcomm’s latest chip! It has an incredible AI processing unit – it can handle 80 TOPS, which is a huge leap over Apple’s M4 series chips. Those top out at 38 TOPS, so Qualcomm is clearly leading the way in on-device AI power right now.

In graphics performance, the X2 Elite Extreme outperforms the M4 chip, but it doesn’t quite match the power of the M4 Pro or M4 Max, according to 3DMark benchmark scores. We’ll have a more complete assessment once we’ve had a chance to test the X2 Elite Extreme ourselves.

Apple is expected to release its new M5 chips around the same time the X2 Elite Extreme becomes available next year, giving us fresh performance figures to compare.

Want to learn more? I’ve compared the Snapdragon X2 Elite and X Elite processors to show you the differences between the generations.

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2025-10-02 14:44