What’s your source for that?
Searching for benchmark scores on the Snapdragon 8 gen 3 turned up this:
The Apple M1 leads the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 by a hefty +55.58% in the single-core test and +31.47% in the multi-core benchmark – bearing in mind that’s comparing our median marks for the M1 against the theoretical best for the Windows on ARM-based laptop. Understandably, the advantages for the Apple M2 are even greater, with the new MacBook Air/Pro processor snagging a massive +72.57% lead over the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 in the single-core run and enjoying a +54.89% multi-core difference. So while the Qualcomm processor does offer a very attractive generational performance leap over its own family, it is clearly a distant runner-up to the Apple M-series.
And even that article was from before the M2 Pro and Max CPUs came out…
My theory is they’re testing to see how much of a load the service generates on the satellite network and the overall cost burden. If it’s not unreasonable use, they’ll probably just announce it as free for all users (or perhaps bundle with iCloud subs).