Qualcomm has announced the latest addition to its Snapdragon X series, a new Arm laptop chip designed to bring Windows on Arm to more affordable laptops. The Snapdragon X chip is poised to shake up the $600 laptop market, offering better performance and battery life compared to Intel's Core i5 120U processor.

The Snapdragon X chip is specifically designed for mainstream and budget laptops, and while it won't offer the same level of performance as the X Plus or X Elite variants, it still promises to deliver better performance per watt. The chip features a 45 TOPS NPU that supports Microsoft's Copilot Plus features, an eight-core Qualcomm Oryon CPU that boosts up to 3GHz, and is built on the same 4nm process node as the rest of the Snapdragon X series.

The introduction of the Snapdragon X chip means that Windows on Arm laptops will soon be available in the $600 price range, with devices from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo set to hit the market in the coming months. This move is expected to put pressure on Intel's efforts in the budget laptop market, and Qualcomm claims that over 60 laptop designs from OEMs are currently in production or development based on the Snapdragon X series of chips, with over 100 expected by 2026.

The Snapdragon X chip is also expected to pave the way for Qualcomm-powered mini desktop PCs, with the company promising the "world's first mini desktop PC powered by Snapdragon X series" to be announced tomorrow. This could signal a significant shift in the mini PC market, which has traditionally been dominated by Intel-based devices.

The growing momentum of Windows on Arm is a significant development in the tech industry, and Qualcomm's latest move is expected to further accelerate this trend. With more affordable options becoming available, Windows on Arm is likely to become an increasingly attractive option for consumers and businesses alike.

As the laptop market continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how Intel responds to Qualcomm's aggressive push into the budget segment. One thing is certain, however: the introduction of the Snapdragon X chip marks a significant turning point in the Windows on Arm saga, and is likely to have far-reaching implications for the tech industry as a whole.