Qualcomm unveils a low-cost Snapdragon C chip designed for budget Windows notebooks starting at $300, promising improved battery life and value over high-end models like Apple’s MacBook Neo.
Qualcomm has outlined a low-cost Windows laptop chip aimed squarely at the budget end of the market, with devices expected to start at about $300. The Snapdragon C is intended to give PC makers a cheaper way to build thin, quiet notebooks with long battery life, while undercutting Apple’s new MacBook Neo, which sells for roughly double that amount, according to Canaltech and Tom’s Hardware.
The pitch is less about raw power than about value. Qualcomm says the chip is built on an older 6nm design derived from the Snapdragon 778G family, rather than a new premium architecture, a choice that keeps development costs down and lets the company lean on mature Windows on Arm drivers. Tom’s Hardware reported that Qualcomm is targeting entry-level machines from HP, Acer, Asus and Lenovo, with the first models expected later this year, while Windows Central said launches are more likely in late 2026.
On paper, the Snapdragon C is an 8-core Kryo part with a 1+3+4 CPU layout, pairing Cortex-A78 and Cortex-A55 cores with higher clocks than the original design. It also includes an Adreno 643L GPU, a Hexagon NPU for AI tasks, support for Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 6, and compatibility with PCIe 3 SSDs, UFS storage and LPDDR4X or LPDDR5X memory. Tom’s Hardware said Qualcomm has claimed strong battery-side gains over Intel’s N250, including up to 67% faster multi-threaded performance in Cinebench on battery and improved results in browsing, streaming and video calls.
Even so, the chip is not positioned as a direct rival to higher-end processors. Windows Central noted that it does not meet Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC requirements, and its exact performance on mains power has not yet been shown independently. That leaves the Snapdragon C as a pragmatic product for basic computing rather than a flagship one: a Windows alternative designed for everyday work, media playback and web use, not for demanding creative or gaming workloads.
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