Windows Weekly (Audio) WW 951: The ODBC of AI - Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme Promises Blazing Speeds!
Paul Thurrott reports live from Maui with exciting details on Qualcomm's next-gen Snapdragon X2 Elite chip and how it could shake up the PC world, while behind the scenes, Microsoft quietly drifts further from OpenAI just as an NVIDIA mega-deal makes headlines. Is Windows about to get its biggest reboot in years, and can ARM finally topple Intel?
Windows
- 25H2 is imminent: The real ISOs and eKBs are here!
- Paul's Arm-based trip to Mexico and Arm-based Apple-tastic experience at Snapdragon Summit
- And yet. It's Week D. And we didn't get any preview updates (for 24H2)
- Windows AI Labs is a thing
- If you're migrating from Windows 10 get a Windows 11 on Arm PC, Microsoft suggests
- New AI features coming to Notepad, Paint, and Snipping Tool
- New Dev and Beta (and Canary) builds: Click to Do translation, Share with Copilot, Accounts management improvements
AI
- The Microsoft/OpenAI rift widens yet again
- NVIDIA invests $100 billion in OpenAI, days after "investing" $5 billion in Intel
- Intel will keep making its own GPUs because who gives a crap
- Microsoft is bringing Anthropic Claude to Microsoft 365 Copilot - "Model choice"
- Microsoft reportedly trying to pay publishers for content used by AI
- Microsoft Teams is getting more agents
- Google Chrome is getting a major AI update
Snapdragon Summit 2025
- 6G, AI as the new UI, glasses as the next wave, Android PCs out of nowhere
- X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme (with up to 18 cores for ultra-premium PCs)
- 3rd Gen Oryon CPU (X2 was 1st gen, last year's phone chip was G2)
- 75 percent faster CPU perf than competition at ISO power
- First Arm chip to hit 5+ GHz
- New Adreno GPU architecture with 2.3x perf per watt and power efficiency over previous gen
- Hexagon NPU with 80 TOPS for "concurrent AI experiences" on Copilot+ PCs
- Supports latest 5G SD X75 modem, Wi-Fi 7, BT 5.4
- 75 percent faster CPU perf than competition at ISO power
- Bad news: First half of 2026 availability
- Not in the press release: The secret of why X2 Elite Extreme is so fast
Xbox
- Microsoft raises Xbox console prices for the second time in 2025
- Here comes the Gaming Copilot on Windows 11
- Google is copying it on Android and bringing Android and native games to Windows now
Tips and Picks
- Tip of the week: Think of 1 story for everyone you care about
- App pick of the week: Notion 3.0
- RunAs Radio this week: Managing Vendor Incidents with Mandi Walls
- Brown liquor pick of the week: High Coast Whisky Quercus IV Mongolica
Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell
Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly
Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com
The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.
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