Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus Copilot+ PC has 'severe battery drain' in Cinebench against Apple M2

Qualcomm launched its latest-gen Snapdragon X series processors earlier this month, with two chips: the flagship Snapdragon X Elite and the Snapdragon X Plus. The new Snapdragon X Plus processor has been tested in Cinebench, with "severe battery drain". Check it out:

In a new video, YouTuber Luke Miani tested the new Microsoft Surface 7 laptop powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor, costing $999. Microsoft itself positions the new Arm-powered Surface 7 laptop against Apple's latest M3-powered MacBook Air... yet the YouTuber tested Cinebench and saw "severe battery drain" on the Snapdragon X Plus-powered Surface 7, compared to the previous-gen M2-powered MacBook Air.

Cinebench was run not once but twice for 10 minutes (a total of 20 minutes), during which time the Surface 7 laptop went from 100% battery to just 65%. Battery drain aside, the YouTuber did note that the Snapdragon X Plus-powered Surface 7 was beating out the M2 and M3-powered MacBook Air laptops in CInebench.

Cinebench R24 benchmarks saw 752 points on the Snapdragon X Plus processor, 712 points on the Apple M3-powered MacBook Air, and 542 points on the M2-powered MacBook Air. Impressive results, and it's not like many people will be running their new laptops without being plugged in. But, if you're using it on the go, the battery drain issues are not good at all.

• Read more: Qualcomm and Microsoft go 'beyond the call of duty' to stop independent Copilot+ PC reviews
• Read more: Qualcomm says 'the PC Reborn' with its Snapdragon X series and Copilot+ PCs

Cinebench will completely max out every core and thread of a CPU when it's being benchmarked, so the battery drain is inescapable. However, the M2-powered MacBook Air laptop went from 100% to 90% in the same 20 minutes, blowing away the Snapdragon X Plus-powered Surface 7 laptop out of the water.

Another note, is that the YouTuber has owned the M2-powered MacBook Air for over two years now, so you'd think that the total charge capacity would be lower than when it was first purchased. Even still, it beat out the battery drain of the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor, which is mighty impressive.

Apple's latest M3-powered MacBook Air is even better again, with some truly incredible numbers (in both performance, battery, and more) which easily bests the M2-powered MacBook Air laptop from the company. It'll be interesting to see how much this battle heats up moving forward, given that Intel is close to launching its new Core Ultra 200V series "Lunar Lake" CPUs and AMD with its Zen 5-powered Ryzen AI 300 series "Strix Point" APUs.