Early benchmarks say it: Qualcomm's Snapdragon Extreme chip is cooking Intel’s top-tier Panther Lake

Typically, Windows laptops rely on x86 processors from Intel and AMD. In recent years, though, Qualcomm Snapdragon chips have started to gain ground, partly as the industry tries to catch up with the efficiency gains seen in Apple’s M series processors.

Now, Qualcomm is positioning the Snapdragon X2 Elite as a flagship Windows laptop chip, putting it directly up against Intel’s Panther Lake lineup. Early benchmarks suggest Qualcomm could have the edge this time, with the Snapdragon chip pulling noticeably ahead in early testing.

Early Geekbench results put Snapdragon ahead of Intel

Early Geekbench 6 scores for the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme have surfaced online, as reported by PCGuide. The chip appeared in testing inside an ASUS Zenbook A16 laptop.

Geekbench runs a series of simulated workloads and produces a score that can be compared against other processors. The results are split into single-core and multi-core performance.

The Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme scored:

• Single core: 4,033
• Multi core: 23,198

For comparison, Intel’s Core Ultra X9 388H scored:

• Single core: 3,066
• Multi core: 17,924

Of course, benchmark results do not always translate directly to real-world performance. Early tests should always be treated cautiously.

Looking at the hardware itself, though, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme features an 18-core design, while Intel’s Core Ultra X9 388H uses 16 cores. In this particular test, the Snapdragon chip was running at around 4.45GHz, while the Intel chip was recorded at roughly 4.0GHz; however, as PCGuide mentions, Intel does advertise 5.1GHz on its official website.

There are still some growing pains with ARM on Windows. Not every Windows app is built for it yet, although PRISM emulation has come a long way, and native ARM support is increasing.

One limitation is drivers. Unlike apps, old drivers cannot be emulated, which means some hardware or software may not work if it does not have an ARM-compatible driver.

This affects certain games that rely on kernel level anti cheat systems, such as Riot’s Vanguard used in Valorant. Without native ARM support for those drivers, the game simply will not run. You can actually look up if your game or app works on Qualcomm chips via the site Works on Windows on Arm.

But all of this is becoming a trope these days as generic rehash arguments against Qualcomm. Indeed, back in June of 2025, we reported how "100 of the most popular Windows apps are now Arm-native, and users are spending upwards of 90% of their time in non-emulated apps." Microsoft went on to boast about those numbers later in September, but for some reason, people who have never touched a Qualcomm PC are convinced "there are issues" for regular users. Funny how that is.

🗨️ Where do you think this chip race goes next?

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme is already posting early numbers that put real pressure on Intel’s upcoming Panther Lake chips, and it’s setting the stage for one of the most interesting CPU battles we’ve seen in years. Qualcomm momentum, Intel’s response, and what these early benchmarks actually mean for real‑world laptops — there’s a lot to unpack.

So tell us: are you buying the early ARM lead, or do you think Panther Lake closes the gap once final silicon lands?

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