Home > CPU Comparison > Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) or M5 (10-Core): what's better?

Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) vs Apple M5 (10-Core)

93 out of 100
Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100)
VS
81 out of 100
Apple M5 (10-Core)
Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100)
Apple M5 (10-Core)

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 3.6 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) with 18-cores against the 4.61 GHz Apple M5 (10-Core) with 10-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments (30)

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
Integrated Graphics
iGPU capabilities for gaming and 3D-intensive tasks
NanoReview Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
🔌 Usage Scenario:

Key Differences

What are the key differences between (10-Core) and (X2E-96-100)
Advantages of Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100)
  • Supports up to 128 GB LPDDR5X-9523 RAM
  • More powerful Adreno X2-90 integrated graphics: 7.6 vs 4.1 TFLOPS
  • Has 8 more physical cores
  • Around 74.4 GB/s (48%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100)
vs
M5 (10-Core)

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) - 4456
Cinebench Scores (27th and 113th place)
Submit your benchmark results

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
File compression 2070 MB/sec 1790 MB/sec
Clang compilation 224.4 Klines/sec 138 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 599.6 pages/sec 427.3 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 668.6 Mpixels/sec 430.7 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 328 pages/sec 421.1 pages/sec
Background blur 82.4 images/sec 78.7 images/sec
Photo processing 210.7 images/sec 156.2 images/sec
Ray tracing 38.9 Mpixels/sec 21.6 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2]

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Integer math 112.4 GOps/sec 56.9 GOps/sec
Floating point math 138.8 GOps/sec 75.6 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 357M Primes/sec 301M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 58.1M Strings/sec 35.6M Strings/sec
Data encryption 26.6 GBytes/sec 17.1 GBytes/sec
Data compression 381 MBytes/sec 296.6 MBytes/sec
Physics 2130 Frames/sec 3199 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 20B Matrices/sec 15.1B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3] – 8 & 507 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 20.5 PPW 43.8 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 240.6 PPW 661.6 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt - 991.8 PPW
Blender / Watt - 10.22 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100)
No benchmark results yet
Add
Apple M5 (10-Core)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-07-29 -> knotp37Cinebench 20260 / 3841
📘 2026-07-05 -> maheshkondrajuGeekbench 6 CPU4224 / 17165
📘 2025-12-27 -> RennsportGeekbench 6 CPU4289 / 18011
Add View all (3)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) and Apple M5 (10-Core)

General

Vendor Qualcomm Apple
Released September 25, 2025 October 15, 2025
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv9 ARMv9
Codename Snapdragon X Apple M5
Model number X2E-96-100 T8142
Integrated GPU Adreno X2-90 Apple M5 GPU (10-core)
Rival Equivalent - Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) - Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 18 4
P-Threads 18 4
Base Frequency (P) 3.6 GHz 4.61 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5 GHz -
Efficient Cores
E-Cores - 6
E-Threads - 6
Base Frequency (E) - 3.0 GHz
Total
Total Cores 18 10
Total Threads 18 10
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 36x 46x
L1 Cache 288K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 16MB (shared) 22MB (shared)
L3 Cache 9MB (shared) -
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors - 28 billions
Fabrication Process 3 nm 3 nm
TDP (PL1) 96 W 27 W
Socket Custom Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100°C 100°C
Die Size 220 mm² 157.48 mm²
Laptop processors ranking (5th and 21st place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Adreno X2-90 Apple M5 GPU (10-core)
GPU Base Clock 500 MHz -
GPU Boost Clock 1850 MHz 1620 MHz
Shading Units 2048 1280
TMUs 128 80
ROPs 64 40
Execution Units 12 160
iGPU FLOPS
More info: Apple M5 GPU (10-Core) compared to Adreno X2-90

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5X-9523 - LPDDR5X-9600
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 32 GB
Memory Channels 10 8
Max. Memory Bandwidth 228 GB/s 153.6 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Official Site Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) official page -
PCI Express Version 5.0 -
PCI Express Lanes 12 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
284 (68.4%)
131 (31.6%)
Total votes: 415

Competitors

1. Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) vs Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100) (1)
2. Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) vs Qualcomm Snapdragon X (X1-26-100)
3. Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) vs Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-94-100)
4. Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) vs Apple M6 (12-Core)
5. Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) vs Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) (1)
6. Apple M5 (10-Core) vs Apple M3 Pro (2)
7. Apple M5 (10-Core) vs Apple M1 Pro
8. Apple M5 (10-Core) vs Apple M6 (12-Core) (2)
9. Apple M5 (10-Core) vs Intel Core Ultra 9 285H
10. Apple M5 (10-Core) vs Apple M5 Pro (15-Core)
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M5 (10-Core) or Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100)?
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Avatar
LYT April 21, 2026 at 02:19 AM
Qualcomm is making lap fryer with 96W
0 Reply
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Intel Arc Raises Eyebrows Into Arcs. May 21, 2026 at 09:17 PM
Lol def in the thin and lights. I dont think its that bad in computers with better active cooling and thicker chassis but I saw the Asus Zenbook A16 with this chip and that computer is way to thin to be encompassing such a chip.
+1 Reply
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Dinner March 8, 2026 at 08:24 AM
I feel like people continue to forget the fact that the X2 elite extreme here is Qualcomm's FLAGSHIP mobile CPU and this is the BASE M5, which is apple's "entry-level" chip essentially. Even if the X2 does outperform in multi by alot, it will be priced alot higher because its a flagship. Also it consumes alot of powert to do that (96W V 27W on Apple).
+7 Reply
Avatar
Hello April 2, 2026 at 01:50 AM
The M5 is going to end up in the Ipad Air ($599) and the Mac Mini ($599) vs the X2 elite, which will end up being atleast $2500 if not more.
+6 Reply
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BallWizard April 20, 2026 at 03:53 PM
You understand that a spec-ed MacBook Air is about the same price as the Zenbook A16 with the X2 Elite Extreme, right?
0 Reply
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Uhh April 20, 2026 at 03:54 PM
Hello, Not really. You can find it below 2k so easy.
0 Reply
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Power Hitter 5050 May 15, 2026 at 11:51 AM
Uhh, Those arent this processor. They have x2-80 or x2-88, which while the 88 does have an advantage in mt performance, ppw is not so in most use cases you will get battery life with the Mac by a decent margin. You would only be picking Qualcomm if you simply do not wanna use Mac or get into ecosystem.
0 Reply
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Asgadhr May 15, 2026 at 11:53 AM
BallWizard, No all the ones I found were at $4,000 AUD with the x2e-96, which is like $2,800 USD. I did find one with x2e-80 for $3,000 AUD, so $2,000 USD but you could get an M5 Pro MacBook Pro at that price so.
0 Reply
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haha January 9, 2026 at 08:23 AM
qualcomm always stomps apple every time, first with snap 8 elite gen 5, then x2 extreme....... oh wait. the latter chip would perform even better when having linux desktop installed.!
+2 Reply
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Leik January 10, 2026 at 07:42 AM
See performance per watt
+3 Reply
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haha January 29, 2026 at 02:33 AM
Leik, they aint matter cuz macbooks r never meant for gaming anyway
0 Reply
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LGS January 30, 2026 at 08:21 AM
haha, You’re trying to say a base model cpu gets outperformed by Qualcomms top of the line
+9 Reply
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haha February 5, 2026 at 11:22 AM
LGS, sorry, but even then, besides from the hardware, the software also matters here. if this qualcomm runs a linux distro instead of windows , then........... game over for apple.
0 Reply
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haha February 6, 2026 at 05:14 AM
LGS, but please pay attention to the software as well... because most ppl pay too much attention on windows computer with qualcomm soc vs apple m5 macbook pro, let's see if we replace windows with linux distro on that same computer.
0 Reply
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God March 9, 2026 at 06:21 PM
Leik, Bro leave that alone , even performance per dollar , Snapdragon sucks and it has its own inefficiencies. Very poor Device trees and non optimised IPC etc.
0 Reply
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BRxxgg December 24, 2025 at 11:01 AM
I can’t believe that the m5 base model iGPU is the same with the top of the line x2 elite extreme igpu
+6 Reply
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Garrett February 1, 2026 at 06:15 PM
Yeah I'm kinda disappointed with that. Considering that chips power draw I was hoping it'd be at least 2x as fast as it is
+3 Reply
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DB007 December 5, 2025 at 06:13 AM
Windows laptops need to step up their game. It’s 2025 and I have no choice but to buy a MacBook. I hate macOS, but you can’t find a Windows laptop that matches a MacBook’s performance at the same price.
+11 Reply
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haha January 9, 2026 at 08:24 AM
don't worry snapdragon x2 elite stomps, already, since you only need to buy that x2 elite laptop and strap a linux distro you want. then you get full performance as you expect (make sure to have flathub installed before going with any apps!)
+1 Reply
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whatever January 31, 2026 at 10:09 PM
haha, buy x2 elite windows laptop for 2x the price of a baseline macbook air, 2x less performance cuz windows is windows and nobody uses linux.. and 4 hours of screen time on a good day.. what a great deal!
+4 Reply
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haha February 6, 2026 at 05:11 AM
whatever, sorry, you may get things wrong here... 1. apple m5 is always more expensive, and not to mention there are many laptops that use snapdragon x2 elite extreme (hp, dell, asus, acer,....) 2. since windows is already considered by the global community as the ultimate piece of sl*p software this year (due to satya nadella's mishaps regarding to ai slop content), linux is insanely getting more popular this year. if you want to have a full seamless ecosystem with linux, just pick a distro like ubuntu and linux mint and strap flathub on them.
+1 Reply
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Darkstar April 2, 2026 at 02:04 PM
haha, why is your response to everything just saying x2 elite stomps and strappng on a linux distro. Dude even if we compare the macbook pro to an x2 elite extreme laptop, still pro wins in price even. The Macbook Pro is one of the best all rounder latops on the market and the m5 still leads in efficiency, single-core and performance per watt. Even in GPU, performance is identical but because of unified memory, hardware accelerated ray tracing, multi layered mesh shaders and dynamic caching on macs, you will get a generally more powerful GPU. Also the built in media engine the dedicated video encoders and decoders for enchanced speeds, a specialized thunderbolt controller that improves the speed of the thunderbolt bridge and create low latency. Also the NPU's neural accelerators which can do some serious clock boosting allowing the M5 with also the nerual accelerators in the GPU to hit nearly 140 TOPS. The CPU now also has the super cores which can do some serious single core boosting and handle low threaded tasks extremely well. They also have the secure enclave which integrates direct security protection on macOS and provides an extra porxy layer for ehanced network protection.
+1 Reply
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Apple and android lover November 27, 2025 at 10:24 PM
The fact that the m5 have the same gps performance as the x2e is wild I can’t wait for the m5 Mac mini for $600
+1 Reply
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User007 February 4, 2026 at 08:42 AM
Till now I simply don't have a reason to buy any Apple product. Even a mac mini has better alternatives for me. If I would buy any mini PC, I at least want 32 gb / 1 SDD and then the greediness of Apple kicks in. It would set me at least €1700 back. If it something for the TV then the Google TV Streamer 4K is a far more logical choice. Well, you get my drift. Apple isn't needed at all for any product.
0 Reply
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Samsung Trash October 31, 2025 at 02:15 PM
Ok so M5 is base model, X2 Elite Extreme is like top of the line product? nah bro M5 won
+10 Reply
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SOC Master November 8, 2025 at 04:15 AM
You are right, and base M5 will more affordable compared to top of the line snapdragon
+13 Reply
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hhaha January 29, 2026 at 02:33 AM
look at the benchmarks, m5 clearly lost, no comparison
+3 Reply
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Lgs January 30, 2026 at 08:19 AM
hhaha, Ok, let’s be fair and compare it to the m3 ULTRA and m4 max, does it still outperform them?
+1 Reply
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PricePirate April 20, 2026 at 04:22 PM
SOC Master, Turned out to be wrong
0 Reply
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Power Hitter 5050 May 12, 2026 at 04:51 AM
PricePirate, How so? The cheapest laptop with the X2E-96 starts $2000 USD, u can even get an mbp with the m5 for $1700 USD, or an air at $1100 USD if you dont need active cooling.
0 Reply
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