Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X chips have been making serious waves. We've tested several models so far, including the Surface Laptop 7, Dell XPS 13 and HP OminBook X, and they've all impressed with their performance and especially super long battery life.
However, their biggest issue is the price, with the cheapest laptop model selling for $999. That's going to change soon, according to Qualcomm.
During its Q3 earnings call, Qualcomm CEO and president Cristiano Amon said, "As we look forward to 2025, in addition to new design wins, our X series product roadmap will expand to address PCs with retail prices as low as $700 without compromising NPU performance."
If that holds true, that's a $300 price decrease compared to the current most affordable model. That would open the laptops up to a whole new type of buyer, and it might even make them among the best laptops for students with a lower barrier to entry.
It is worth noting that Amon didn't explicitly mention laptops, so it's possible that these $700 devices could be smaller desktops powered by the Snapdragon X chips. But we strongly suspect he's referring to more budget-friendly laptops. That would allow Windows models to undercut the $999 MacBook Air, one of the best laptops you can get.
We've contacted Qualcomm for clarification, and while the company responded, it didn't offer any additional information "beyond what Cristiano has said."
Either way, Amon said, "We’re already working with OEMs on the next wave of Copilot Plus PCs," so there are certainly more models coming — it's just a matter of how much those models will sell for and whether the laptops will be able to hit that $700 price tag.
One thing's for sure: Qualcomm believes that PCs are a big part of its business. "We expect PC to be the next biggest driver of diversification for the company,” Amon said during the earnings call.
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