Windows Central Insider
Qualcomm is taking aim at the MacBook Neo with a new System-on-a-Chip (SoC) dubbed "Snapdragon C" designed for low-cost devices that are expected to start at $300 later this year. The new Snapdragon C chips focus on power efficiency, quiet thermals, and responsive day to day performance for light productivity workflows and media consumption tasks.
Not much is known about the Snapdragon C chips just yet. We know it will include an NPU of some kind, though no technical details have been provided at current. Qualcomm has confirmed that because of the kind of devices Snapdragon C will be targeting, the chip is not inherently a Copilot+ PC capable one.
That means it either has an NPU that doesn't meet Copilot+ PC requirements, or it supports less than 16GB RAM, which I would say is very likely. I would expect to see Snapdragon C devices with 8GB, or even 4GB of RAM depending on the device, which will help OEMs target that sub $500 price point.
The good news is that Qualcomm is touting all day battery life with Snapdragon C devices, as the chip is super energy efficient, likely due to it being a less powerful chip than those found on Snapdragon X. It supports Windows 11, though it's unclear if these devices will ship with Windows 11 25H2 or 26H1 like the Snapdragon X2 devices do.
Qualcomm hasn't confirmed any other technical details, outside of the fact that Snapdragon C doesn't use Oryon cores . It's unclear what technology the Snapdragon C chips are using, but Qualcomm says it will have more to share later in the year.
Acer, HP, and Lenovo are already on-board to ship Windows 11 devices with Snapdragon C under the hood. These devices are expected to target low-end Chromebook and MacBook Neo-esc devices with viable Windows-powered alternatives.
We don't yet know how the Snapdragon C chips will perform, of course, so it remains to be seen just how good these Windows devices will feel to use. Given that Qualcomm is only touting lightweight productivity and consumption workflows with this chip, performance is likely not going to blow your socks off.
The first Snapdragon C devices are expected to debut "later in 2026," and will join Qualcomm's PC lineup alongside the Snapdragon X2 SoC.
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