The Snapdragon X Elite chipset has Oryon cores with 12 performance cores at 3.8GHz. Dual boost takes it to 4.3GHz. This can go up to 64GB, and Qualcomm claims the chip is 2X more powerful than the competition. It also apparently consumes only a third of the power while doing so. It uses the 4nm TSMC node and supports external displays at 4K at 120FPS.
The chip also has a 55% improvement in on-device AI. It’s better image generation from text prompts, object erasing, photo expansion, etc. These custom Oryon cores can rival Apple’s M series chips. The Galaxy Book 4 series is coming out around the second half of 2024. We expect these laptops to launch in Q3 or Q4 2024 with the Snapdragon X Elite processor.
Other laptops with the chip will also launch at this time. This will apparently have a special version of Windows, which takes advantage of the new NPU for cutting-edge AI features. Qualcomm probably has done hardware-specific optimization.
Products with the Snapdragon X Elite will launch around the same that the next version of Windows with several AI features launches. Samsung is the first to adopt Qualcomm’s chips, so we expect the Galaxy Book 4 series to feature the Snapdragon X Elite chipset later this year. The last Galaxy Book with a Snapdragon chip was the Galaxy Book 2 Go.
The chipset is very powerful and might match the MacBook Pro M3 in performance. It could even beat the M3 Pro in overall AI performance. If the efficiency is comparable to Windows laptops, Galaxy Books might finally compete properly with MacBooks regarding battery life.
So far, the signs are pretty positive. There’s custom-developed hardware that’s optimized for the chipset. Microsoft is leading the AI race and integrating bits of AI into Windows, while macOS has basically none. If this project goes well, the Galaxy Book 4 might match the MacBook in efficiency and performance while also delivering next-generation AI features.
