While the smartphone market is driving short-term gains, Qualcomm says that it isn’t expecting major unit growth in 2025. Perhaps to make up for flat handset growth, the company is aiming to shake up the Windows laptop market by pushing hard into PCs with its Snapdragon X series. CEO Cristiano Amon highlighted the progress in this segment:
“While we’re still in the early phase of the transition to Copilot+ PCs, we are pleased with consumer reception for Snapdragon X Series, which has exceeded our expectations. According to Circana, in December, Snapdragon X Series had more than 10% share of the greater-than-$800 Windows laptops in U.S. retail.”
— Cristiano R. Amon, Qualcomm President and CEO
That’s an eye-catching stat—Qualcomm says it already accounts for 1 in 10 premium Windows laptops sold at retail in the U.S. But there’s a key distinction: this figure applies only to machines priced over $800—a value above which basically all Qualcomm-based laptops reside, at least for now. A big portion of laptops sold for business and educational use fall below that price point, meaning that Qualcomm’s market share is probably a bit smaller in reality.
Still, there’s no denying that the company is aggressively expanding its PC presence. It claims to have 80 Snapdragon X laptop designs planned or launched this year and 100+ expected by 2026. We’ve reviewed several Snapdragon X Elite-based machines and have been impressed with their battery life and native app performance, particularly in lightly-threaded tasks.
Qualcomm’s early momentum in Windows PCs is surprising, but widespread adoption will depend on more than just solid hardware—it’s going to take software developers embracing Snapdragon X in a way they haven’t in the past. With both AMD and Intel creeping up in terms of efficiency, Qualcomm will have battle on its hands, but is really coming on strong.