Next-gen Arm Snapdragon X chips for PCs to arrive in 2025 — major Dell leak exposes Qualcomm's roadmap with 'V2' and 'V3' models

Dallin Grimm
·3 min read
Dell's XPS roadmap from its leaked XPS presentation. .
Dell's XPS roadmap from its leaked XPS presentation. .

Qualcomm's Snapdragon X mobile processors are already poised for sequels, with the yet unreleased CPUs already slated for 2nd and 3rd generation releases for notebook PCs in mid-2025 and late 2027. A major Dell leak acquired by VideoCardz contains an XPS roadmap, which also contains auspicious dates for Snapdragon X's future.

The leaked Dell executive summary has provided many new pieces of information about the future of Dell's XPS laptop line, including this performance analysis of the next-gen XPS 13 Plus. Early in the slideshow is Dell's XPS roadmap, revealing plans for the full stable of XPS releases and the hardware running them. Seen listed are "QC ORYON V2" and "QC ORYON V3", references to the new Oryon cores powering Snapdragon X.

Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus badges.
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus badges.

Dell expects to get its hands on Snapdragon X Gen 2 in mid-2025 and will include it in products in January 2026. The XPS 14 and XPS 13 models will be shipped with the second generation of Snapdragon X, but Snapdragon X won't be alone in the XPS family, being joined by Intel silicon. Intel's Lunar Lake processors will also see play in the XPS 13, with a goal of 20W TDP. The exciting Panther Lake will be seen in the XPS 14 alongside Qualcomm's silicon, with an estimated 40W TDP.

Qualcomm is also penciled in for the XPS 16 SKU to release in 2027 or 2028; depending on the variable release date, which appears subject to change, the 16-inch laptop may receive either second- or third-generation Snapdragon X.

Snapdragon X's second generation is currently a complete unknown, but the Dell slides do paint a picture of a more efficient chip than its predecessor. Gen2 is expected to beat Gen1 in power draw according to estimates for the 2026 laptops; Dell's upcoming XPS 13 is listed to have a maximum TDP of 25.5W in the slides, with its follow-up running Gen2 silicon estimated to cut down to 20W. Snapdragon X Gen2 will also compete with Intel's Panther Lake in the 14-inch form factor, an exciting challenge against a chip that Intel estimates will be 5x faster than Meteor Lake, only two generations before it.

Qualcomm's multi-year plan for its Snapdragon X series is exciting news for those who have been following the growing hype around the chips. The mobile processor line will compete with Apple's M-series and Intel's latest advancements, daunting tasks for a company known primarily for smartphone chips.

Snapdragon X Elite and Plus's debuts in laptops will arrive in mid-2024, likely around the start of Computex 2024 in June. Snapdragon X seeks to carve out a place for Arm-based processors on Windows, but it won't be alone for long; Arm executives claim that multiple Arm vendors are making chips for PCs.