Qualcomm might quickly drop a second Snapdragon Elite for reasonably priced flagships

Key Takeaways

Qualcomm could launch a Snapdragon 8s Elite chip for upper-midrange telephones, probably debuting in April 2025.
The Snapdragon 8s Elite is rumored to outperform the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 however falls in need of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
It might carry higher effectivity and may energy telephones with large 7000mAh batteries.

Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon 8 Elite as its newest flagship chip earlier this yr. It’s the direct successor to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 however comes with a unique title, which aligns extra with the ARM-based Snapdragon X Elite. The brand new chip options customized Oryon cores, although not the identical ones used within the X Elite for laptops. The Snapdragon 8 Elite is ready to energy most Android flagships launching in 2025, together with the Galaxy S25 Extremely and the OnePlus 13. Nevertheless, Qualcomm might also launch a second Snapdragon Elite chip that will probably be utilized in upper-midrange telephones.

Associated

You may lastly purchase a Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered telephone within the US

And it is not from who you’d anticipate

Leaker Digital Chat Station claimed on Weibo that Qualcomm may quickly launch a Snapdragon 8s Elite chip (through Android Authority). It’s anticipated to energy upper-midrange telephones within the $500–$600 vary. In keeping with the leaker, the chip outperforms the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 however falls in need of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The primary telephones powered by this chip will apparently debut in April 2025, and so they might also carry a large 7000mAh battery.

Its title suggests it should succeed the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, which powered telephones just like the Poco F6 and Honor 200 Professional. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is constructed on a 4nm course of and contains a Cortex-X4 prime core clocked at 3.0GHz, 4 efficiency cores at 2.8GHz, and three effectivity cores at 2.0GHz. It helps as much as 24GB of LPDDR5x RAM (as much as 4,200MHz) and UFS 4.0 storage. The Snapdragon 8s Elite, nonetheless, is perhaps primarily based on a extra superior course of node.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip promo image — Supply: Qualcomm

The following-gen Qualcomm chips may cost a little extra

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite is a major improve over the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. We examined it on the iQOO 13 and had been fairly impressed. Nevertheless, this leap in efficiency may include a price for Android OEMs, probably resulting in larger costs for next-gen Android telephones. A report from earlier immediately suggests Qualcomm plans to extend the worth of the Snapdragon 8 Elite (2nd Gen). The present chip is reportedly priced at $190, and even a 5% hike would push its successor’s value to over $200.