Oryon is a series of custom CPU cores implementing the ARM architecture featuring a microarchitecture designed by Qualcomm.12 It is used on the Snapdragon X series, Snapdragon Ride Elite, Snapdragon Cockpit Elite, and Snapdragon 8 systems on chips, first released in June 2024.3
It began development in 2021 when NuVia Inc.4 was acquired by Qualcomm. It is the first custom microarchitecture for smartphone SoCs5 released by Qualcomm since the original Kryo.
Models
1st generation
Development of the first generation of Oryon started in 2021 under Nuvia. This generation consists of Snapdragon X-series chips that are targeted at laptops. They implement the ARMv8.7-A instruction set.6
| Branding | Model number | Core count | Total cache | Max multithread frequency | Boost frequency | Memory type | Release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| X Elite | X1E-00-1DE | 12 | 42 MB | 3.8 GHz | 4.3 GHz (dual-core) | LPDDR5x-8448 | Q2 2024 |
| X1E-84-100 | 4.2 GHz (dual-core) | ||||||
| X1E-80-100 | 3.4 GHz | 4.0 GHz (dual-core) | |||||
| X1E-78-100 | – | ||||||
| X Plus | X1P-66-100 | 10 | 4.0 GHz (single-core) | ||||
| X1P-64-100 | – | ||||||
| X1P-46-100 | 8 | 30 MB | 4.0 GHz (single-core) | ||||
| X1P-42-100 | 3.2 GHz | 3.4 GHz (single-core) | |||||
| X | X1-26-100 | 3.0 GHz | - | Q1 2025 |
2nd generation
The second generation consists only of Snapdragon 8-series chips targeted at smartphones and tablets. They implement the ARMv8.7-A instruction set.6
| Branding | Model number | Core count | Total cache | Max multithread frequency | Boost frequency | Memory type | Release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Elite for Galaxy | SM8750-AC | 2 + 6 | 32MB (24-L2; 8-SLC) | 3.53GHz | 4.47GHz (dual-core) | LPDDR5x-10600 | Q1 2025 |
| 8 Elite | SM8750-AB | 3.5GHz | 4.32GHz (dual-core) | Q4 2024 | |||
| SM8750-3-AB | 2 + 5 | Q1 2025 |
3rd generation
The 3rd generation is the first to include both 8 and X series chips. They implement the ARMv9.3-A instruction set.
| Branding | Model number | Core count | Total cache | Max multithread frequency | Boost frequency | Memory type | Release | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Performance | Prime | Performance | Prime | Performance | |||||
| X2 Elite Extreme | X2E-96-100 | 12 | 6 | 53 MB | 4.4 GHz | 3.6 Ghz | 5.0 GHz | N/a | LPDDR5x-9523 | Q1 2026 |
| X2E-94-100 | 4.7 GHz | |||||||||
| X2E-90-100 | 5.0 GHz | |||||||||
| X2 Elite | X2E-88-100 | 4.0 GHz | 3.4 Ghz | 4.7 GHz | ||||||
| X2E-84-100 | 6 | 34 MB | ||||||||
| X2E-80-100 | ||||||||||
| X2E-78-100 | ||||||||||
| X2 Plus | X2P-64-100 | 10 | N/a | 4.04 GHz | N/a | N/a | ||||
| X2P-42-100 | 6 | 22 MB | ||||||||
| 8 Elite Gen 5 | SM8850-AC | 2 | 6 | 4.61 GHz | 3.63 GHz | LPDDR5x-10600 | Q3 2025 | |||
| 8 Gen 5 | SM8845 | 3.8 GHz | 3.32 GHz | LPDDR5x-9600 | Q4 2025 | |||||
References
References
- Anton Shilov. "Qualcomm says its Oryon CPU cores have 1% or less of Arm's original technology — cores in Snapdragon X PC chips are almost entirely custom". Yahoo!Tech. tom'sHARDWARE. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
- "Qualcomm® Oryon™ CPU Architecture". Archived from the original on 2025-12-05. Retrieved 2025-12-05.
- "The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Architecture Deep Dive: Getting To Know Oryon and Adreno X1". Anandtech. 2024-06-21. Archived from the original on June 14, 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
- Statt, Nick (13 January 2021). "Qualcomm just bought a two-year-old startup founded by former Apple engineers for $1.4 billion". The Verge. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
Nuvia, was formed in 2019 by three former engineers and chip specialists, all of whom worked at Apple on the A-series chip line that powers the iPhone and iPad
- "Introducing the Qualcomm Falkor CPU core: purpose-built for cloud workloads | Qualcomm". www.qualcomm.com. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
- "Qualcomm Documentation". docs.qualcomm.com. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
- "Snapdragon X Elite". Qualcomm. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
- "Snapdragon 8 Elite". Qualcomm. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
- "Snapdragon X2 Elite". Qualcomm. Retrieved 24 September 2025.