Asus Zenbook A16 (2026) Review: Savor the Power, Ignore the Beige

Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme—debuting in the new Asus Zenbook A16—is giving the company's Snapdragon X laptop chips a much-needed kick in the pants, with a big focus on further boosting performance in both general applications and graphics. Qualcomm has also been hard at work improving compatibility across applications, with more and more apps now running natively on the platform instead of via emulation. To achieve all this, however, battery life had to take a hit.

The upshot is that Qualcomm is no longer positioning Snapdragon X as a budget alternative to Intel and AMD but rather as a superior chip all around, calling the X2 Elite Extreme series “the fastest, most powerful and efficient processors for Windows PCs,” like the Zenbook A16—faster than most Apple machines, too.

Both Elite and Extreme

Photograph: Chris Null

The first-generation Snapdragon X has been the little chip that could since its release in 2024. The selling point is its unique ARM design, delivering performance that exceeds expectations relative to the price. Not only that, but Snapdragon systems were the first to be certified by Microsoft to provide sufficient horsepower to complete AI tasks effectively. And battery life is stellar, too.