Snapdragon X Plus and Snapdragon X Elite?
Great! Nice names! I have no issue with that.
What I take issue with is this:
There is nothing inherently wrong with this SKU numbering system. Perhaps you could argue that the numbers such as 84, 80, 78... were arbitrarily chosen.
The real issue is the kind of SKU segmentation they have chosen to go with.
1. The vast difference between X1E-84-100/X1E-80-100 and the X1E-78-100
All three have 12 CPU cores. But the 78 has no Core Boost whatsoever! The maximum clock speed is 3.4 GHz, while the 80/84 top out ay 4.0/4.2 GHz respectively. This is a huge difference because it affects the single-core performance.
This makes the X1E-78 more similar to the X1P-64 than the X1E-80/X1E-84. Like the X1E-78, the X1P-64 does not have any core boost whatsoever.
By releasing the X1E-78 without Core Boost, Qualcomm has devalued the X Elite, and blurred the lines between the X Elite/X Plus segmentation.
I think Qualcomm should not have made the X1E-78-100 in that form. They should have given the X1E-78 a Core Boost of 3.8 GHz. If the yields do not permit that, then disable 2 CPU cores and sell it as an X Plus instead.
2. Introducing Purwa die SKUs under the X Plus branding.
So far, all the Snapdragon X SKUs unveiled have been based on the Hamoa die. But we know Qualcomm has a smaller die coming up in the pipeline called Purwa
Purwa has less PCIe lanes, an inferior video encoder/decoder, and tops out at 8 CPU cores, according to this leak;
The upcoming Snapdragon X1 will be available in five different models: see their specs and performance here.
www.androidauthority.com
The other parts like the GPU/Display engines may also have been cut.
Back when Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon X Plus 2 months ago:
The idea we got was that the X Plus shares much of the same core features as the X Elite- 45 TOPS NPU, same display support, same encoder/decoder, same ISP.... The key difference was that X Elite had 12 cores, while the X Plus had 10 cores.
So you can see how it's going to be problematic when they introduce Purwa based SKUs under the Snapdragon X Plus brand. It's going to break the knowledge consumers/enthusiasts have in their mind about the X Plus, and completely destroy any sense of coherence that Qualcomm's new naming scheme had until now.
Now, this information is based on rumours/leaks, so maybe Qualcomm will do something different when it finally unveils those SKUs.
In my opinion, these Purwa SKUs should be made to belong to another tier (a lower one than the X Plus/X Elite). They could call it the "Snapdragon X Go" or simply the "Snapdragon X" perhaps.