Linux on ARM: Status on Snapdragon X, X Elite and X2 Elite, Contributions from Qualcomm, Valve and the Distributions

Summary: On ARM-based Windows laptops, Linux has been stuck for two years at the point of "it boots but isn't ready for daily use." The promises made for the first-generation Snapdragon X Elite were largely not kept: TUXEDO cancelled its own Linux laptop, and Phoronix's tests ended in disappointment. In September 2026, Qualcomm announced that it would officially support Linux on the X2 series, published a Debian 13-based developer preview, and sped up its patch submissions to the kernel. In the same period, Valve revealed that it had been funding the FEX project, which runs x86 games on ARM, for years, and brought SteamOS to ARM for the first time with Steam Frame. Distributions such as Ubuntu, Fedora and Omarchy also brought their own solutions. In this article, I have gathered separately, with their sources, what actually works and what is still a promise.

What is the state of Linux on ARM-based Snapdragon laptops today?

Short answer: On first-generation Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus laptops, Linux works on certain models with Ubuntu's experimental images and with firmware copied from the Windows partition, but basic functions such as sleep, the battery indicator and graphics acceleration can break from release to release. On the X2 Elite series, Qualcomm is providing official support for the first time, but as of October 2026 this support is a preview aimed at developers. A certified Ubuntu image for end users and manufacturers' Linux support are expected in the first half of 2027.

Topic	Status (October 2026)	Source
X Elite / X Plus (1st gen)	Works on selected models; firmware is copied from Windows, there are regressions	Phoronix
Qualcomm preview for X2 Elite	Debian 13 user space, custom kernel, aimed at developers	CNX Software
X2 Elite mainline kernel support	Three laptops queued for Linux 7.4; camera, HDMI and embedded controller missing	Phoronix
Certified Ubuntu (X2)	Targeted for 2027	Canonical
Steam (Linux, ARM)	There is a public ARM64 beta client, but Valve says it is "unsupported"	GitHub #13689
Running x86 games on ARM	Possible with FEX + Proton; official on Steam Frame, not official on other devices	Wikipedia: Steam Frame

Which chips are in the Snapdragon X family?

Qualcomm's laptop chips consist of two generations. The first generation is the X1 family (X Elite, X Plus and the entry-level Snapdragon X), which uses Oryon CPU cores, and the second generation is the X2 family, manufactured on a 3 nm process.

Chip	Generation	Cores	Graphics	Announcement	Source
Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-84-100 etc.)	1	12 Oryon	Adreno X1-85	October 2023	Qualcomm
Snapdragon X Plus (X1P)	1	8 or 10 Oryon	Adreno X1	April 2024	GSMArena
Snapdragon X (X1-26-100)	1	8 Oryon, up to 2.98 GHz	Adreno X1	January 2025	Notebookcheck
Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100)	2	18 (12 + 6), up to 5.0 GHz	Adreno X2-90	September 2025	CNX Software
Snapdragon X2 Elite (X2E-88-100, X2E-80-100)	2	12 (6 + 6), up to 4.7 GHz	Adreno X2-90 / X2-85	September 2025	CNX Software

All models in the X2 series have an 80 TOPS (trillion operations per second) Hexagon neural processing unit (NPU). The top model reaches 228 GB/s of memory bandwidth (CNX Software). The important point for Linux is this: each chip family requires a separate device tree (a description file that introduces the hardware to the kernel) for each laptop model. That is why a single installation image booting on every machine, as in the x86 world, does not happen on its own.

What happened with the first-generation X Elite?

The promises made

When Qualcomm announced the X Elite on October 23, 2023, it promised quick Linux support. In its May 2024 statement, the company recalled that supporting Linux "quickly" was a priority and that it had published the first patch set a day after announcing the chip (OSnews). In January 2024, Linaro engineer Abel Vesa described a Debian 12 image running graphics and wireless networking on Qualcomm's reference hardware (CNX Software).

Progress on the kernel side was real:

Linux 6.10: Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) and DisplayPort support for the X Elite (X1E80100) (Phoronix).
Linux 6.11: The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x and ASUS Vivobook S15 became the first X Elite laptops with a device tree in the mainline kernel. Parts such as the battery indicator and touchpad did not work at the time, and firmware was copied from Windows (Phoronix).
July 2024: Konrad Dybcio of Linaro submitted device tree patches to get the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 booting on Linux (Phoronix).

What actually happened

Booting the kernel and being able to use a laptop for everyday work are different things. Here is the picture that emerged over two years:

The firmware problem: Most of the firmware needed for the GPU, audio processor and wireless networking cannot be distributed. Users copy it from a Windows partition; Ubuntu offers the qcom-firmware-extract tool for this (Ubuntu Discourse).
Debian: At DebConf25, Linaro engineer and Debian developer Christopher Obbard said that standard Debian images cannot be used out of the box on these laptops, but that they can be booted "with a few tricks" (Phoronix).
TUXEDO cancellation (November 2025): Linux laptop maker TUXEDO cancelled its X Elite-based laptop. According to the company, battery life fell far below what is expected from ARM laptops, there was no way to update the BIOS from Linux, fan control could not be done through standard Linux interfaces, and USB4 speeds did not meet expectations. TUXEDO said the first-generation chip turned out to be "less Linux-friendly than expected" and stated that it would evaluate the X2 when the time comes (Linux Magazine, TUXEDO).
Performance (December 2025): Phoronix wrote that the X Elite in the Acer Swift 14 AI, on Ubuntu 25.10 and Linux 6.18, produced results similar to the aging AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U (Phoronix).
Regression (March 2026): On the same laptop, in a test of Ubuntu 26.04, the firmware tool that worked in previous versions gave a "device not supported" error. Even with manually copied firmware, 3D acceleration and the battery indicator did not work (Phoronix).

In September 2026, Thom Holwerda of OSnews wrote that the 2024 promises were "never kept" and that two years later the support was "scattered, broken and limited" (OSnews). A harsh assessment, but it does not contradict the list above. The Nicco Loves Linux channel also takes the X Elite experience as its starting point and raises the X2 promises with the same question:

Will Linux on Snapdragon Work This Time?Click to play. The video loads from YouTube (youtube-nocookie.com).

What is Qualcomm doing differently with the X2 series?

The official support statement

At the Snapdragon Summit held in Hawaii on September 22-24, 2026, Qualcomm announced that it would officially support Linux with the X2 series. Kedar Kondap, who heads the company's PC division, was quoted as saying: "Developers ask us for one thing: Linux on Snapdragon. We heard you." (ITdaily).

The concrete parts of the announcement:

Title	Details	Source
Developer preview	September 23, 2026; Debian 13 “Trixie” user space and Qualcomm’s kernel build; for distribution developers, kernel contributors and hardware enablement engineers	Phoronix, CNX Software
Initial stage content	Booting with systemd-boot, PCIe, UART/I2C/SPI, Mesa’s Freedreno, Turnip and Rusticl drivers, FastRPC for the Hexagon NPU	CNX Software
“Production-ready” stage	Target for the end of November 2026: more thoroughly tested features, broader laptop support	CNX Software
Image building	qualcomm-linux/qcom-deb-images repository and debos	CNX Software
Distribution approach	Qualcomm says it aims to empower developers rather than support a specific distribution, and that distribution support will come with what lands in the mainline kernel	CNX Software
Manufacturer support	According to Qualcomm, HP, ASUS and HUMAIN plan Linux support in the first half of 2027; ASUS is reported to offer the Zenbook A14 and A16 with Ubuntu	Phoronix, ITdaily

The short announcement video on Qualcomm’s own channel:

Linux on Snapdragon: Snapdragon X2 Series Officially Supports LinuxClick to play. The video loads from YouTube (youtube-nocookie.com).

The promotional video shot by Counterpoint Research at Snapdragon Summit shows a Linux desktop, VS Code and AI applications running on X2:

Linux on Snapdragon X2 Demo: Native Support, AI, VS Code and MoreClick to play. The video loads from YouTube (youtube-nocookie.com).

Patches on their way to the kernel

What is different this time is that most of the work is being sent to the mainline kernel first (the “mainline first” approach). Here is what has landed so far and what is in the queue:

Linux 6.19: Rob Clark of Qualcomm added graphics and display support for the Adreno X2-85 GPU in the X2 Elite to the MSM DRM driver (Phoronix).
Linux 7.4 (expected at the end of December 2026): Device trees for the ASUS Zenbook A14 UX3407NA, Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x Gen 11 and HP EliteBook X G2q 14 AI have been queued. On the ASUS, NVMe, the OLED display and USB work; HDMI does not yet. On the Lenovo, there is no camera or embedded controller (EC) driver. On the HP, there is no camera and HDMI is problematic (Phoronix).
Staffing: Hans de Goede, who led x86 laptop hardware support at Red Hat for many years, moved to Qualcomm at the end of 2025 and is working on Linux support for Snapdragon laptops (Phoronix). FEX developers also noted in May 2026 that Qualcomm sends patches “with every kernel release” (Phoronix).

What is known and what is still a promise

Claim	Status
Qualcomm officially supports Linux for X2	Announced, developer preview available
X2 GPU in the mainline kernel	Confirmed (Linux 6.19)
Three X2 laptops in Linux 7.4	Queued; 7.4 has not been released yet
“Production-ready” platform at the end of November 2026	Qualcomm’s target, not yet achieved
Debian support at the end of 2026	Qualcomm’s target
Certified Ubuntu image	Canonical’s 2027 target
Linux devices from HP, ASUS and HUMAIN	Planned for the first half of 2027; no models or dates
First-generation X Elite benefiting from this support	Qualcomm has said nothing

The last row matters. Qualcomm’s statements start with the X2 series. There is no new commitment for X Elite owners; that they will benefit indirectly from the shared driver and kernel infrastructure is my guess.

What is Valve doing for Linux on ARM?

Valve’s ARM work comes not from laptops but from games and its own hardware. But the results affect all ARM Linux devices.

FEX: the layer that translates x86 code to ARM64

FEX is an open-source binary translator that runs x86 and x86-64 applications on ARM64 Linux. When used together with Proton, Windows games can also run on ARM. The project's first commit dates back to November 28, 2018, and Valve has provided funding from the very beginning. FEX's lead, Ryan Houdek, thanked Valve in the seventh-anniversary post for making it possible to start the project. Pierre-Loup Griffais of Valve also said in an interview with The Verge that they worked hard to convince the team to start the project and have been funding them ever since (GamingOnLinux).

Snapdragon traces are clearly visible in FEX's 2026 releases (FEX releases):

FEX-2605 (May): Developers bought X2 Elite laptops and began debugging under the heading "Snapdragon X2 Elite fixes."
FEX-2607 (July): Mafia 3 and Bioshock fixes in ARM64EC Proton.
FEX-2610 (October): A software fallback for the hardware random number generator that malfunctions on Qualcomm Oryon cores, and the disk cache for Steam enabled by default.

Proton 11 and ARM64

In April 2026, Valve added FEX-2604 to Proton 11.0 Beta 1 for ARM64EC builds, and in Beta 3 in May it moved to FEX-2605 (GamingOnLinux, Proton release notes). Thanks to this, the community tried running Steam on ARM devices such as the Nintendo Switch and the AYN Odin (Tom's Hardware).

Steam Frame: SteamOS's first ARM device

Valve's Steam Frame headset, which went on sale on September 18, 2026, uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and 16 GB of LPDDR5X memory. The device runs the ARM64 version of SteamOS, Proton for Windows games, FEX for x86 games, and Lepton, forked from Waydroid, for Android applications, all together (Wikipedia: Steam Frame). Lepton and FEX were released as publicly available packages on Steam in August 2026 (Hardware Busters). In July 2026, Collabora also released the first preview of Holo Core, the AArch64 version of Arch Linux that will form the foundation of Steam Frame (Collabora, Phoronix).

Valve's November 2025 hardware announcement introduces Steam Frame together with the Steam Machine and the new Steam Controller:

Steam Hardware AnnouncementClick to play. The video loads from YouTube (youtube-nocookie.com).

Techquickie's video explains how an ARM-powered headset runs games written for x86, through FEX and Proton:

The Steam Frame Shouldn't Work - Here's Why It DoesClick to play. The video loads from YouTube (youtube-nocookie.com).

I also covered this topic in my Steam Deck 2 article. My reading there hasn't changed: Valve built the ARM layers for its own device, but because these layers are open source, they benefit everyone.

Valve's official limit

There is a distinction to note here. Valve publishes a publicly available beta Steam client for ARM64 Linux, but it does not support this client. In response to a bug report opened on GitHub in October 2026, Valve employee kisak-valve replied, "Steam for Linux is currently not supported on ARM-based hardware," and linked the report to the ARM support request that has been open since 2015 (GitHub #13689, GitHub #4061). The same answer was given in another report closed on October 16 (GitHub #13745, Mixed News).

The Interfacing Linux channel tried this beta client with FEX and the ARM64 version of Proton for several months:

Steam's ARM Client For Linux is FAST!Click to play. The video loads from YouTube (youtube-nocookie.com).

So today the only official ARM Steam experience is SteamOS on Steam Frame. Running Steam on a Snapdragon laptop is possible, but it isn't under Valve's guarantee.

What are Linux distributions doing?

Ubuntu

Canonical offers the most widely used path for X Elite, namely the "Concept" images. The Ubuntu 26.10 Snapdragon Edition image, released on September 29, 2026, includes Linux 7.3 changes and for the first time supports X2 laptops (ASUS Zenbook A14/A16, Lenovo Yoga Slim 7, HP EliteBook X G2q). Among the new X1 devices are the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3, Ideacentre Mini 01q8x10 and HONOR MagicBook Art 14 (Phoronix). Canonical describes the image as "a less polished, early preview." According to user reports on the forum, on the Zenbook A16 wireless networking, Bluetooth, battery and the touchscreen work, while the speakers and waking from sleep are problematic (Ubuntu Discourse).

A certified Ubuntu image for X2 is expected in 2027. Canonical says this image is "rigorously validated on X2 silicon" (Canonical).

Debian

Qualcomm's X2 preview is based directly on the Debian 13 user space, and the company is targeting Debian support by the end of 2026 (ITdaily). On first-generation devices, however, standard Debian images still require manual intervention (Phoronix).

Fedora

With a change accepted for Fedora 44, AArch64 Live images will be able to automatically select the correct device tree at boot on Windows on ARM laptops. systemd-stub loads the appropriate DTB file using hardware ID matches embedded in the kernel. The aim of the change is for X1 laptops, and in the future X2 laptops, to be able to boot Fedora out of the box. The change is being carried out by Hans de Goede, who has moved to Qualcomm (Phoronix).

Omarchy and Omarchy Dragon

On September 18, 2026, DHH (David Heinemeier Hansson) announced that he had set up an official team for the Arch Linux-based Omarchy focused on Snapdragon computers: Omarchy Dragon (Omarchy). I also covered this announcement in the Omarchy Dragon article. The team and devices are as follows:

Person	Device	Focus
Jim Martin	Surface Laptop 8 (X2 Elite)	Surface and X2 support, installation and recovery testing
Birk Skyum	Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (X Elite)	Battery, sleep, KVM virtualization, hardware-accelerated video, BIOS update from Linux, USB4
Matt Gilg	Snapdragon X Yoga, HP OmniBook X16 (X2 Elite)	aarch64 packages, gaming
Bob Prendergast	HP EliteBook 14 G1q, ThinkPad T14s Gen 6	His own Omarchy installation with the Ubuntu kernel
Miguel Cruz	ASUS Zenbook A16 (X2 Elite Extreme)	Boot, firmware, graphics driver issues

In the announcement, DHH wrote that he was trying to establish a direct communication channel with Qualcomm, and that an engineer at Qualcomm working on Linux compatibility had reached out to them. The first concrete result came on October 20, 2026: according to the notes for Omarchy 4.5 RC1, Snapdragon X laptops such as the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x and ThinkPad T14s run with Omarchy's own aarch64 kernel. Installation, graphics and signal processor firmware are taken from Windows, the correct device tree is selected at boot, and the cameras work. The same release also supports the Dell XPS 16 and ASUS ProArt P14 with NVIDIA N1X (Omarchy 4.5 RC1). This is a release candidate; the notes also state clearly that it is not the final release.

Common denominator

The solutions of all four distributions rest on the same two problems: selecting the correct device tree and getting firmware from Windows. Ubuntu solves this with a tool, Fedora at the boot stage, and Omarchy in the installation script. The device trees Qualcomm submits to the kernel and manufacturers placing their firmware in the linux-firmware repository could make these interim solutions unnecessary over time.

What should be checked before installing Linux on a Snapdragon laptop?

Do not delete the Windows partition. Omarchy's and Ubuntu's current solutions take firmware from there.
Check whether your model is on the list. Support progresses model by model; of two laptops using the same chip, one may boot while the other may not.
Test sleep, battery indicator, sound and HDMI separately. The desktop coming up does not mean these work.
Be prepared for regressions in updates. As in the case of Ubuntu 26.04, a working feature can break in a new release.
Keep expectations for gaming limited. FEX and Proton work, but Valve does not support desktop ARM Linux.

Frequently asked questions

Can Linux be installed on a Snapdragon X Elite laptop?

It can be installed on selected models. The most mature path is Ubuntu's Snapdragon Concept image. Firmware is copied from Windows, and functions such as sleep, battery and graphics acceleration vary from model to model and from release to release.

Does Snapdragon X2 Elite officially support Linux?

Qualcomm has announced that it will officially support Linux starting with the X2 series in September 2026. What is currently available is a developer preview based on Debian 13. Certified Ubuntu is expected in 2027, and manufacturers' Linux devices are expected in the first half of 2027.

Which kernel version is required?

The X2 graphics unit has been in the mainline kernel since Linux 6.19. Device trees for the ASUS Zenbook A14, Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x Gen 11 and HP EliteBook X G2q are queued for inclusion in Linux 7.4. 7.4 is expected to be released at the end of December 2026.

Does Steam work on Linux on a Snapdragon laptop?

It can be run with the ARM64 beta client and FEX support in Proton. However, Valve states clearly that Steam for Linux is not supported on ARM-based hardware. For now, official ARM support is only in SteamOS on the Steam Frame.

What is Omarchy Dragon?

The official team Omarchy has set up for Snapdragon computers. It was announced on 18 September 2026. With Omarchy 4.5 RC1, initial ARM support arrived on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x and ThinkPad T14s.

My reading

What makes the difference is not the number of patches but official ownership: There were patches during the X Elite era too, but at the product level nobody was saying "this laptop works on Linux." With X2, Qualcomm, Canonical and the manufacturers are giving dates for the first time. We will see at the end of November 2026 and in the first half of 2027 whether these dates are met.
The real problem is still firmware and the device tree: All the distributions are solving the same two problems in different ways. "Out-of-the-box" Linux is not possible until the firmware becomes distributable.
Valve's influence is indirect but large: Valve does not support laptops, but it has been funding FEX for seven years and has released its first ARM device. The fact that the gaming question on ARM Linux can be discussed today is the result of this investment.
First-generation owners should be cautious: Qualcomm's commitment starts with X2. I think the X Elite will benefit from the shared kernel work, but that is a guess; there is no official promise.
The role of community distributions is speed: When teams like Omarchy Dragon move model by model and send their results upstream, they prepare the ground that the big distributions are waiting for. A role similar to what Asahi Linux did on Apple Silicon, but this time with the manufacturer's support.

I will update this article when the new kernel versions and the "production-ready" stage at the end of November arrive.

Sources

Qualcomm and the kernel

First-generation experience and criticisms

Valve, FEX and Steam

Distributions