Qualcomm's new high-end smartphone chip known as the Snapdragon 8 Elite

Key Takeaways

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite affords 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 prone 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, expertise that first appeared in its X Elite laptop chips final yr (although this can be a 2nd technology model of that chip). Different key data contains the chip’s 3nm build, which is a notable step up from final yr’s 4nm expertise.

This enables 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 additional 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.

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Qualcomm goes massive on AI

Identical to each tech firm proper now…

Qualcomm

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

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

It is seemingly that we’ll first see Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite in notable flagship smartphones just like the Galaxy S25 Extremely (not less than in North America) and presumably the OnePlus 13, which is anticipated to be revealed quickly.