Qualcomm's new high-end smartphone chip is named the Snapdragon 8 Elite

Key Takeaways

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite presents sooner efficiency and higher battery life than earlier chips.
The chip options improved AI capabilities, resulting in enhanced options in flagship smartphones.
Anticipate the Snapdragon 8 Elite in smartphones like Galaxy S25 Extremely and OnePlus 13.

Like clockwork, Qualcomm is again with a brand new high-end smartphone chip that is more likely to be featured in almost each top-tier Android device released this year.

First off, the Snapdragon 8 Elite options the chipmaker’s Oryon CPU, know-how that first appeared in its X Elite laptop chips final yr (although this can be a 2nd era model of that chip). Different key data contains the chip’s 3nm build, which is a notable step up from final yr’s 4nm know-how.

This permits the 4.32GHz Snapdragon 8 Elite to ship 45 % sooner single and multi-core efficiency, whereas utilizing 27 % much less energy than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (this might end in 2.5 further hours of gaming). Hopefully, this implies Android units that function the Snapdragon 8 Elite will supply improved battery life over their predecessors. Qualcomm additionally says the chip options 40 % extra highly effective gaming efficiency.

Qualcomm

For extra Snapdragon 8 Elite specs, click on on the infographic above.

Associated

New leak gives us our first look at what could be the OnePlus 13

Leaked pictures of what probably may very well be the OnePlus 13 have appeared on Weibo and X.

Qualcomm goes huge on AI

Similar to each tech firm proper now…

Qualcomm

As you will have already guessed, Qualcomm goes huge on the Snapdragon 8 Elite’s AI capabilities by giving it a forty five % sooner NPU (neural processing unit). This implies we’ll doubtless see a number of new AI options make their strategy to flagship smartphones from producers like OnePlus, Asus, Oppo, and Xiaomi.

The Verge reviews that the brand new NPU presents help for a brand new on-device AI-powered video object eraser software that enables customers to take away components from video clips. It is unclear what smartphone will supply this futuristic-sounding tech first — or how effectively it would work — however my greatest guess is Samsung’s Galaxy S25. This function sounds slightly too good to be true given how tough it’s to edit video with AI convincingly, however it is going to be fascinating to see if Qualcomm can pull it off.

It is doubtless that we’ll first see Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite in notable flagship smartphones just like the Galaxy S25 Extremely (at the very least in North America) and probably the OnePlus 13, which is predicted to be revealed quickly.