Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 with 20% more performance and Agentic AI is here
Qualcomm announced its new flagship chip at the ongoing Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii: The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is here. It is the successor to last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite and is touted by Qualcomm as the “world’s fastest mobile system-on-a-chip.”
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (SM8850-AC) is based on a 3nm process and features the third-generation Oryon CPU, which increases CPU performance by 20% compared to its predecessor. CPU power efficiency has also been improved by 35%. It features an octa-core CPU in a 2+6 configuration, meaning two prime cores with a maximum frequency of 4.6 GHz and six performance cores clocked at up to 3.62 GHz.
The flagship chip also features an Adreno GPU for graphically demanding tasks. While Qualcomm didn’t disclose the GPU name in its press materials, it did state that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5’s GPU delivers 23% improved performance, 20% greater power efficiency, and 25% improved ray tracing. Overall, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 increases power efficiency by up to 16%, which Qualcomm claims equates to 1 hour and 48 minutes of additional playtime for gamers.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 offers full support for Unreal Engine 5 for console-quality graphics, while Tile Memory Heap optimizes memory usage and bandwidth, and Mesh Shading allows developers to group geometries more efficiently.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 with 37% faster AI
Of course, there have also been some improvements on the AI front. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 features a 37% faster Hexagon NPU and an improved Qualcomm Sensing Hub. Together, they enable agent-based AI assistants that can be adapted to individual tasks.
“Through continuous on-device learning and real-time sensing, multimodal AI models understand the user, enabling proactive recommendations and situation-based, rapid improvements—while keeping user data on-device,” Qualcomm said in a press release.
In imaging, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 features Qualcomm’s Spectra AI ISP with three 20-bit AI ISPs and Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec, making it the world’s first mobile platform with APV support.
Qualcomm said the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 will power devices from global OEMs and smartphone brands, including vivo, iQOO, Oppo, Realme, OnePlus, Honor, ZTE, nubia, Xiaomi, Asus, Sony, and Samsung. The first new phones will launch in the coming days.
