This week, Qualcomm unveiled its next-gen mobile system-on-a-chip (SoC), the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip.
We live in a world where tech refreshes every year. That isn’t just true for smartphones like the iPhone 17 or the Samsung Galaxy S26, but the technology inside of them as well. For Android fans, that means a new Snapdragon chipset that will power most flagship-level phones released over the next year.
For starters, the chip has already been rebranded once. Its original name was the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, so that it followed in the footsteps of the Snapdragon 8 Elite that went into flagship phones like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. However, just like Microsoft when it skipped Windows 9 and Apple when it went from iOS 18 to iOS 26, Qualcomm decided to skip a few numbers and go straight to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. This coincides with the fact that it’s actually the fifth generation chip in the Snapdragon 8 lineup, so now the numbers make more sense.
Here’s everything we know about the new flagship mobile chipset, including when it’s coming to the North American market.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5: Specs
Let’s start with the specs and compare them to the existing Snapdragon 8 Elite to give us an idea of how the chip will be different from last year. There are still some question marks about the SoC despite it being fully announced. For example, Qualcomm didn’t include the GPU name in the product brief but did mention that it was an Andreno GPU of some sort.
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Model name: SM8850-AC
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Process size: 3nm
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Cores: 2 prime cores and 6 performance cores
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Frequency: 4.6 GHz (two cores), 3.62 GHz (6 cores)
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Cache: 24MB
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GPU: Currently unnamed Adreno GPU clocked at 1.2 GHz
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Memory cache: 18MB of Adreno High Performance Memory (HPM)
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NPU: A new Hexagon NPU with an upgraded Qualcomm Sensing Hub
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ISP: Qualcomm Spectra AI
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Modem: Qualcomm X85 5G Modem-RF
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Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and UWB: Qualcomm FastConnect 7900 Mobile Connectivity System
So, right away, there are some things we can glean. The top clock speed is slightly higher than the outgoing Snapdragon 8 Elite. The Elite Gen 5 also gets the upgraded X85 modem and a host of upgrades to the core tech, like a faster GPU and NPU.
However, it’s not an upgrade across the board. Last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite also housed the FastConnect 7900 system, so Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and UWB specs will be the same as they were in 2025.
Mashable Light Speed
The new hardware also enables some new features, such as the Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec, making it the first mobile platform to do so. In addition, the new Adreno GPU allows for mesh shading, which gives mobile game developers more efficient options when rendering games.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5: Performance improvements
Qualcomm promises quite a nice little performance bump. Here are all of the promised performance improvements, although we would note that these percentages will certainly change from device to device depending on a variety of factors.
CPU
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20 percent single-core improvement
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17 percent multi-core improvement
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32 percent responsiveness improvement
GPU
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23 percent GPU performance improvement
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20 percent more GPU efficiency
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25 percent ray tracing performance improvement
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With the Adreno High Performance Memory, Qualcomm is boasting 10 percent power improvement and 38 percent faster performance over the old memory
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30 percent faster “AI inference for superior 5G performance”, which Qualcomm says will lead to a 50 percent reduction in latency while gaming
ISP, Modem, and NPU
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4x larger dynamic range thanks to the new ISP chip
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37 percent higher NPU performance, leading to vastly improved on-device AI performance
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Can handle AI inquiries at 220 tokens per second, up from the 70 tokens of the Snapdragon 8 Elite
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The AI-powered modem boasts a 40 percent power savings over the prior model.
In case you’re wondering if these claims hold up to benchmarks, it appears as though they do. Based on benchmark tests performed by Android Police, Hot Hardware, and others, Geekbench 6 scores appear to sit right where Qualcomm promised they would when compared to the reference hardware from a year ago. In fact, it’s good enough to put it in the same ballpark as Apple’s A19 Pro. It’s fair to say that the two platforms have more or less reached parity, at least on the benchmark side of things.
When is it coming to America?
With mobile phones being how they are, a lot of these performance benefits will only be seen in specific use cases. For example, phones don’t lag when scrolling Instagram anymore, so a speed increase may not be noticed by casual users. However, they will notice the increased battery efficiency, and power users, like gamers, will certainly notice that their games run at more stable FPS numbers while also consuming less battery.
The chip is expected to make it into the next wave of Android flagship devices. In fact, OnePlus has already announced the upcoming OnePlus 15 will run the Elite Gen 5. The OnePlus 15 is expected to launch globally in October, and rumor has it the flagship handset will arrive in North America faster than usual, possibly as soon as mid-November. According to OnePlus, that will make the OnePlus 15 the first phone in North America to run the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.
