Qualcomm has officially confirmed the name of its next flagship mobile platform: the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. The new chip will be unveiled at the Snapdragon Summit starting on September 23, 2025. This naming convention marks a strategic change aimed at clarifying the product roadmap and signaling a major performance shift.
The “Gen 5” Debate: Rebranding or Realigning?
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is named to represent the fifth generation of Qualcomm’s premium 8-series platforms since the new single-digit naming scheme was introduced in 2021. The previous chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite, is now considered the “Gen 4.” The “Elite” branding is reserved for Qualcomm’s top-tier platforms. This naming strategy is intended to simplify product hierarchy and provide a clear generational identity.
A New Benchmark for Flagship Performance
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is a performance-focused platform built on TSMC’s 3nm process. Leaks and early benchmarks suggest significant gains over its predecessor. The chip features an eight-core Oryon CPU, with a prime core reaching up to 4.74GHz in the specialized “for Galaxy” variant. It will also include a new Adreno 840 GPU. Initial AnTuTu v11 benchmark scores are rumored to exceed 4 million, which represents a major performance increase. The new Hexagon NPU is also expected to deliver up to 100 TOPS of AI performance. The Xiaomi 17 series is confirmed as one of the first devices to use the new chip, with the Samsung Galaxy S26 series to follow.
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