The Qualcomm Snapdragon X has gotten off to a flying start. In the US, laptops with the chips on board already account for about ten percent of the market.
The market is excited about Qualcomm Snapdragon X processors. Circana analysts calculated that ten percent of all laptops with a price tag over $800 sold in the U.S. in December had a Snapdragon X on board. That is admittedly a market share calculated on only a portion of the market, but the figure is still significant.
After all, the US is a big market, and the price segment is interestingly chosen. Below $800 you get into the real budget class, where consumers without too great needs usually look. In the middle segment we find laptops where price-quality is important, and performance does matter. In that segment, Qualcomm offers a CPU that is more powerful than alternatives from Intel or AMD, and also takes less from the battery. That hasn’t escaped buyers.
Windows for ARM
That Qualcomm is climbing to ten percent so quickly is also a credit to Microsoft. After a decade of failed and half-hearted attempts, Redmond has finally succeeded in making Windows for ARM as qualitative as Windows for x86. Compatibility problems still exist, but certainly for more mainstream users they are very limited.
Meanwhile, Qualcomm toils on. New Snapdragon X variants should power lightweight laptops and mini-desktops, and more and more manufacturers are offering variants with the ARM CPUs. From a previous comparative test with a Lenovo ThinkBook, that ARM version appears to be the more interesting choice for many situations.