[UPDATE: Original Prices Reinstated] ASUS Snapdragon X2 Elite Laptops Price Hike Shocks Buyers After Early Reviews

[UPDATE: April 8th, 2026 | 23:15 IST] In a statement provided to Windows Central, ASUS confirmed “We were notified by Best Buy that an error was made on their end when sharing pricing information for the new Zenbook A series and other Zenbook launches internally and publicly on their website, and this includes several models (Zenbook A14, A16, S16, S14 and Zenbook 14). The price has been corrected and updated on their website to reflect it.”

[ORIGINAL STORY] Yesterday, ASUS launched the Zenbook A16 and few other laptops that pack chipsets from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite lineup. The launch was tightly coordinated with early reviews, but hours after reviews went live, pricing across the X2 Elite lineup suddenly shifted, reportedly rising as much as $350 (via Videocardz).

For example, the ASUS Zenbook A16, which comes with 48GB of RAM and 1TB SSD was earlier priced $1599.99. Shockingly, Best Buy now lists the same laptop for $1699.99. At the time of writing this, neither ASUS nor the retailer offered any explanations about the sudden price hike.

Launch-day pricing confusion spreads

Early coverage of Snapdragon X2 Elite laptops focused mostly on ASUS laptops. Speaking of which, Hardware Canucks noted that their review relied on pre-publication pricing, which no longer matched what buyers actually saw online. On April 7, the outlet tweeted, “This is BAD for our Snapdragon X2E conclusion. Best Buy & ASUS issued the wrong prices. They’re going up by a lot.”

Here’s a breakdown of what the before reviews and after reviews pricing of ASUS X2 Elite laptops lineup look like:

The aforementioned pricing mismatch suggests some early reviews were based on previous pricing information. It’s unclear whether this came from placeholder listings, vendor updates, or retail-side changes. That said, inconsistencies in pricing like these can confuse buyers and shake consumer trust, especially for a launch marketed around competitive pricing.

It’s unclear if Qualcomm or ASUS will clarify the reasoning behind these adjustments. If we hear anything from either of the companies, we’ll provide an update here.