In case you’ve adopted the smartphone market, you know the way annually goes: New 12 months, new chipsets, new units, new efficiency information. This has been true for over a decade. It’s a kind of few points the place you possibly can say with surety {that a} newer telephone can be extra highly effective than a comparable older telephone. Whereas that’s usually a win for the customers, have we gone too far?
Unveiled in late 2024, the Snapdragon 8 Elite is Qualcomm’s new flagship chipset. It’s best to see it energy most high-end Android smartphones in 2025. It’s an octa-core chip with no effectivity cores. As an alternative, it combines two prime cores working at a whopping 4.32GHz with six efficiency cores clocked at 3.53GHz. The battery life good points come from utilizing TSMC’s second-gen 3nm N3E manufacturing course of (the identical as Apple’s A18).
What precisely does ‘Elite’ signify?
Elite battery life? Perhaps not
Qualcomm is likely to be on to one thing with this profitable recipe, because the OnePlus 13, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely, and the Asus ROG Telephone 9 — the three fashionable Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered smartphones out there within the US — have unimaginable battery life. Qualcomm claims to supply 45% improved CPU efficiency and 44% increased energy effectivity, that are spectacular upgrades in only one technology.
This led us to marvel how a lot better the battery life may very well be if the Snapdragon 8 Elite had been designed with effectivity in thoughts. No, this isn’t wishful considering. Traditionally, most chipsets have used a hybrid microarchitecture with various mixes of efficiency and effectivity cores for various use circumstances. When a chipset maker needs to maneuver to a brand new design or manufacturing node, it may well lean in direction of efficiency, battery life, or one thing within the center.
Qualcomm appears to have optimized for the highest finish by specializing in efficiency and never utilizing effectivity cores. For context, its predecessor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, had two effectivity cores, whereas the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 had three. That is more likely to produce some warmth (requiring higher thermal administration infrastructure inside a telephone) throughout intensive duties whereas additionally consuming extra energy. Even the brand new mid-range MediaTek Dimensity 8400 has no effectivity cores.
Not everybody wants elite efficiency
Whereas that’s usually not an issue for right now’s phablets, what about foldables, compact units, or the new breed of slimmer telephones? To keep away from shedding clients, Qualcomm made a brand new model of the Snapdragon 8 Elite with one fewer core than the unique one. Mannequin SM8750-3-AB has two Prime cores and 5 Efficiency cores as a substitute of six.
This seven-core variant is but to be featured in a smartphone, so we will’t deduce a lot, however there are just a few potentialities. It may very well be for “reasonably priced flagships” that purpose to undercut true flagships whereas providing the brand new options of the platform. It may be for units the place battery life and thermal administration have to be prioritized, reminiscent of foldables or thinner telephones. Rumors counsel {that a} Snapdragon 8s Elite is within the works for related use circumstances, including extra confusion.
A brand new breed of telephones
I’d like Qualcomm to supply a platform that’s tailor-made for effectivity. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that the majority fashionable chips — even the mid-range ones — are lots highly effective for many customers. Except you’re a common smartphone gamer or shoot and edit a ton of 4K movies in your telephone, you might be unlikely to have the ability to inform them aside. So why not cease this obsession with increased benchmark scores? Give customers one thing they need and recognize that they will cost their telephones much less continuously.
Most mainstream telephones are higher off maximizing effectivity as a substitute of efficiency.
This may very well be a win for OEMs. Proper now, flagships have the identical spiel as they’re all powered by the identical SoC. Some are overclocked or have higher cooling methods, however these are unlikely to be perceived by common customers. By having a transparent distinction by providing the identical platform in efficiency and effectivity flavors, Qualcomm can allow OEMs to have extra distinctive propositions. I’d say that aside from gaming telephones, most different telephones are higher off with higher battery life.
Everybody wins
For example, the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is predicted to ship with a measly 3,900mAh battery whereas powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Such merchandise are superb candidates for an SoC that’s constructed for higher effectivity over efficiency. A chip of this nature may additionally do with a much less sturdy cooling mechanism, permitting OEMs to design telephones with fewer constraints.
It will must be a joint effort. Within the race between Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Apple, efficiency is usually the best specification to boast annually. As compared, effectivity is neither simple to quantify nor does it sound as fancy. This results in smartphone makers having to make use of computing energy as the one most essential metric, even when most customers wouldn’t have the ability to make a lot of it.
The hepta-core Snapdragon 8 Elite proves that Qualcomm acknowledges the necessity for merchandise that don’t think about peak efficiency because the holy grail. Creating a brand new class of efficiency-focussed chips may encourage a brand new class of smartphones. On a macro stage, by not protecting such elements unique for foldables and compact units, the upper volumes will convey down the costs of the chip, guaranteeing everyone seems to be a winner. This has the potential to assist foldables develop into mainstream.