Qualcomm to Offer Snapdragon X-Powered PCs for $700 in 2025

[AleksandarK]

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon has announced plans to introduce Snapdragon X-powered PCs at a groundbreaking price point of $700 by next year. This revelation, made during the company's recent third-quarter earnings call, signals a significant shift in the accessibility of high-performance Arm-based computers. Currently, the most affordable Snapdragon X laptops on the market, such as the Microsoft Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, retail for $999. The $700 price tag prospect represents a substantial reduction, potentially opening up the technology to a broader consumer base. The only "affordable" Snapdragon X-based PC is the Snapdragon Dev Kit, with a price point of $899. However, the entire laptop solution is still more expensive. Mr. Amon emphasized that despite the lower cost of the potential $700 units, these upcoming devices will maintain neural processing unit (NPU) performance. This commitment suggests that Qualcomm is confident in its ability to optimize costs without sacrificing the advanced capabilities that have made Snapdragon X chips appealing to power users and developers alike.

While specific details about the hardware configurations remain undisclosed, it is interesting to see what steps Qualcomm will take to deliver on this promise. If the company can provide 8-core chips with 16 GB of RAM to the masses for $700, the industry would likely react very well, especially students who require decent computing capabilities on the go, if the $700 PC ends up being a laptop. The announcement also hinted at an expansion of Qualcomm-powered computers, with new models expected to debut at the upcoming IFA tech conference. These additions will likely bolster the selection of Microsoft Copilot+ PCs, further integrating AI capabilities into everyday computing experiences. The CEO also noted, "We expect PC to be the next biggest driver of diversification for the company," with some Snapdragon X PC already being sold out. The demand appears to be strong, and undercutting competition on pricing is an ideal way to get as many customers on board as possible.



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[wNotyarD]

I mean, it should be expected for lower priced devices to be seen. There's still not a single one powered by the X Plus out there and by no means they shouldn't be quite cheaper than the X Elite ones.

 

[GoldenX]

As long as they continue to ignore developers and hide driver updates, they won't prosper at all.

Qualcomm, this isn't Android, you have to put some minimum effort here.

 

[kondamin]

Should be around the time mediatek introduces a big for windows chip at a reasonable price

 

[bonehead123]

And so it begins....

The race to the bottom, that is, cause they gonna have to cut some corners somewhere to get to that $700 price point, and my guess would be bottom-barrel mickey-mouse ssd's, ram & mobo's, plus a very limited number/type of ports

"Cheap is as cheap does" - Forest....Forest Gump (well, sorta)

 

[john_]

Mr. Amon emphasized that despite the lower cost of the potential $700 units, these upcoming devices will maintain neural processing unit (NPU) performance.

Well, this is where the focus will be in marketing. The NPU.

And since for 99% of consumers seeking a thin and light laptop with great battery life to do casual things like, internet browsing, opening a word doc, reading emails and watching youtube and tiktok videos, even a chip with the performance of a 15 years old Core2Quad is more than enough, Qualcomm will have a very easy task to market these Snapdragons. No matter how much slower they might be, compared to AMD's and Intel's chips.

I mean, it should be expected for lower priced devices to be seen. There's still not a single one powered by the X Plus out there and by no means they shouldn't be quite cheaper than the X Elite ones.

Really cheaper ARM based laptops will flood the market when Mediatek gets in the game.

 

[wNotyarD]

Really cheaper ARM based laptops will flood the market when Mediatek gets in the game.

And that will only happen when Qualcomm exclusivity rights to WoA expire. Anyone has a date on this?

 

[kondamin]

And so it begins....

The race to the bottom, that is, cause they gonna have to cut some corners somewhere to get to that $700 price point, and my guess would be bottom-barrel mickey-mouse ssd's, ram & mobo's, plus a very limited number/type of ports

"Cheap is as cheap does" - Forest....Forest Gump (well, sorta)

700 cheap?
you can get some pretty nice ram and nand for that kind of money, especially since it's an arm soc that doesn't require all that much motherboard wise as practically everything is on chip

 

[Qwerty101]

New “affordable” device for developers for 700$.

The Snapdragon Dev Kit, with a price point of $899.

While a brand new Apple Mac mini with M2 is below 500$ on Amazon. Of the shelf rock stable proven platform with ironed out software.

How are these Qualcomm machines not released for sub 500$ or given away for free to real developers to improve the platform?!

It seems like a no brainer that you want developers to have these machines especially when launching the platform.

 

[CosmicWanderer]

Loving my Surface with a Snapdragon chip. It's definitely on the pricy side, but it's incredible in terms of performance and especially battery life.

Im guessing lower end SKUs will provide even longer battery life even if the performance is less.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

New “affordable” device for developers for 700$.

The Snapdragon Dev Kit, with a price point of $899.

While a brand new Apple Mac mini with M2 is below 500$ on Amazon. Of the shelf rock stable proven platform with ironed out software.

How are these Qualcomm machines not released for sub 500$ or given away for free to real developers to improve the platform?!

It seems like a no brainer that you want developers to have these machines especially when launching the platform.

I'd assume the base SD-X system would have at least 16GB of RAM (W11+Copilot requirement) and hopefully at least 512GB of storage. Personally, I'd love to see this just to see if it might encourage Apple to advance the base specs of their Macs. Probably not, but it can at least apply a bit of pressure where there isn't much yet. Many x86 laptops still ship with a base 8GB too, and W11 gobbles up most of that.

 

[watzupken]

To be honest, these ARM based Windows device did not start off well. Extending it to lower end sounds great on paper, but I believe there will be substantial compromises. For example, expect lower end IPS screen, lower capacity battery, etc. It may ultimately spoil the experience, unless they can deliver a MacBook Air M1 kind of quality.

 

[v12dock]

Loving my Surface with a Snapdragon chip. It's definitely on the pricy side, but it's incredible in terms of performance and especially battery life.

Im guessing lower end SKUs will provide even longer battery life even if the performance is less.

I picked up a Lenovo Snapdragon laptop and I couldn't agree more.

 

[Minus Infinity]

Should be around the time mediatek introduces a big for windows chip at a reasonable price

This ^

Yeah next year we have Mediatek and Nvidia bringing ARM SoC's to the game. Qualcomm only has a short time to gouge. In 2026 AMD enters the fray with their ARM hybrid cpu. Intel will be the only one's ignoring this area.

 

[JohH]

Based on Microsoft's love-affair with Qualcomm I guess it'll appear in a new Surface Laptop Go for $700 or so.

 

[_JP_]

And that will only happen when Qualcomm exclusivity rights to WoA expire. Anyone has a date on this?

Allegedly at this year's end, unless renewed.

 

[enb141]

New “affordable” device for developers for 700$.

The Snapdragon Dev Kit, with a price point of $899.

While a brand new Apple Mac mini with M2 is below 500$ on Amazon. Of the shelf rock stable proven platform with ironed out software.

How are these Qualcomm machines not released for sub 500$ or given away for free to real developers to improve the platform?!

It seems like a no brainer that you want developers to have these machines especially when launching the platform.

Snapdragon Dev Kit comes with 32 GB RAM/512 SSD, that sub $500 mac mini has 8GB/256GB SSD.

A mac mini with similar specs (32GB RAM / 512 SSD) costs $1700.

 

[Qwerty101]

Snapdragon Dev Kit comes with 32 GB RAM/512 SSD, that sub $500 mac mini has 8GB/256GB SSD.

A mac mini with similar specs (32GB RAM / 512 SSD) costs $1700.

The snapdragon dev kit will likely run Windows. The Mac mini runs macOS.

RAM is not an equivalent metric between operating systems. 8GB is very different if we talk about Android, Windows 11, Windows 7, Windows XP, macOS, iOS, iPadOS and so on.

The Mac mini in question is an extremely capable machine and can be used for development for macOS, iOS, iPadOS as well as many software stacks.

Compilation speeds on apple silicon are fantastic. Just check some benchmarks.

 

[enb141]

The snapdragon dev kit will likely run Windows. The Mac mini runs macOS.

RAM is not an equivalent metric between operating systems. 8GB is very different if we talk about Android, Windows 11, Windows 7, Windows XP, macOS, iOS, iPadOS and so on.

The Mac mini in question is an extremely capable machine and can be used for development for macOS, iOS, iPadOS as well as many software stacks.

Compilation speeds on apple silicon are fantastic. Just check some benchmarks.

You are not talking about the pricing, the price difference between the Dev Kit and the Mac Mini is huge.