In some parts of the laptop market, the PC vs. Mac war is back on. Apple rekindled the flames by including broad comparisons to PC laptops in its marketing for the M1 and subsequent chips, and then touted incredible speeds compared to its Intel predecessors. But all hell broke out when Qualcomm introduced its Snapdragon X Elite processor, taking aim directly at Apple with claims of faster performance than the M3 MacBook Air.
Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon X Elite last fall and it finally started shipping in the new Microsoft Surface Pro this month. Our colleagues at PCWorld do a comprehensive review with benchmarks and it’s worth a read. However, their review is PC-focused and only mentions the Mac in passing, so we decided to look at their results with a more Mac-centric lens.
M3 vs Snapdragon X Elite: technical specifications
Qualcomm is directly attacking Apple’s M3 in its marketing. To start the comparison, here are the base specifications of the Snapdragon Elite X and M3.
| M3 | Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Processor Cores | 8 (4 performance cores, 4 efficiency cores) |
12 (dual core boost) |
| Frequencies | Performance at 3.7 GHz 2.4 GHz efficiency |
4.0 GHz boost 3.4 GHz base |
| Memory (as tested) | 16 GB | 16 GB |
| Chart | 10-core GPU | Qualcomm Adreno GPU |
At first glance, the specs don’t seem “equal” in the sense that the number of CPU cores and frequencies don’t match. The reality is that Windows and Mac have always been difficult to compare based on outright specs, and overall it doesn’t matter because most customers don’t see things that way.
M3 vs. Snapdragon X Elite: CPU performance
While PCWorld ran a battery of different tests, we’re going to look at two suites in particular. The first is Geekbench 6, which is a popular general-purpose test for evaluating chip performance. The other test results come from Cinebench 2024, a test that performs 3D rendering that demands more from the chips.
Apple offers faster variants of the M3 in the M3 Pro and M3 Max, which are included in the test results for reference. Qualcomm also offers variants of its Snapdragon X Elite, but does not specifically target the M3 Pro and M3 Max in its marketing. Additionally, the M3 Pro/Max is used in the more expensive MacBook Pro, which Microsoft would probably say is not comparable to the Surface Pro.
Geekbench 6.3
Results are expressed as Geekbench scores. Higher scores/longer bars are faster. *The M3 results shown here were tested with Metal; the Snapdragon X Elite was tested with OpenCL.
Qualcomm claims its Snapdragon X Elite is as fast as the M3. Benchmarks show that the X Elite is 19% faster than the M3 in multi-core performance, a difference that should be noticeable when running some high-end tasks. However, the M3 is 12% faster in single-core tests, which affects everyday tasks but likely won’t make much of a difference in performance.
Cinebench 2024
Results are expressed as Cinebench scores. Higher scores/longer bars are faster.
The MacBook Air and Surface Pro probably aren’t the sort of computers that would be chosen by someone doing the kind of work that’s done in Cinebench, but the benchmark is a good indicator of performance. Here, the Snapdragon X Elite is 26% faster in multi-core performance, which is a significant advantage. The M3 is again better in single-core performance, beating the X Elite by 32%. However, anyone doing this kind of work would be using software that takes advantage of multi-core processing.
M3 vs Snapdragon X Elite: GPU performance
If you, as a die-hard Mac fan, are starting to feel a little disappointed by the consistency of Qualcomm’s marketing statements, there’s one place to look to turn that frown upside down: GPU performance.
In the Geekbench Compute benchmark, the M3 outperforms the Snapdragon X Elite, especially when Geekbench Compute is configured to test with Metal, Apple’s graphics API for which the M3 is optimized. The M3 shows a 143% improvement over the X Elite. (All M-series chips in the Geekbench Compute chart above are tested with Metal.)
But even when testing the M3 using OpenCL (the Windows graphics framework), the M3 posted a Geekbench Compute score of 30,391, or 54% faster.
M4 vs Snapdragon X Elite
If GPU performance isn’t enough to fuel your debate with Windows fans, here’s another point you can make. The M3 chip may be the one currently powering the MacBook Air, but the future is already here with the M4 chip: it’s already in the iPad Pro and will likely make its way to the MacBook Air soon.
Geekbench results are in for the iPad Pro’s M4, and its multi-core performance is basically the same as the Snapdragon X Elite. In single-core performance, the M4 is 31% faster. Take that, Qualcomm.
But before you start victory dancing, keep in mind that the MacBook Air M4 might not arrive until next spring, according to reports. This is an argument that could be made against you, although you could easily point out that the M4 chip shipped before the Snapdragon X Elite.
In any case, this whole PC versus Mac thing is a thing, again, at least from a silicon perspective. As is often said, competition is a good thing because it stimulates innovation. So even if you have no desire to move to Windows, the “war” will inspire chip innovations that will benefit Mac users.
Table of Contents
