Power Meets Affordability: Qualcomm’s Second Snapdragon Elite Chip Incoming
Earlier this year, Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Elite as its latest flagship chip. Despite the different naming convention that puts it more in line with the ARM-based Snapdragon X Elite, it’s effectively the successor to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. While different from the ones on the laptop X Elite, the new CPU features custom Oryon cores. Most of the 2025 Android flagships, from the OnePlus 13 to the Galaxy S25 Ultra, will most likely pack the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Qualcomm can also provide a second lower Snapdragon Elite CPU for use in the upper-midrange.
Qualcomm could be preparing a Snapdragon 8s Elite chip, if a new claim on Weibo by Leaker Digital Chat Station (via Android Authority) is anything to go by. This would supposedly power $500–$600 upper-midrange phones. The leaker claims that the chip is better than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, but worse than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The first phones will reportedly arrive in April of 2025. It could also include a massive 7000mAh battery.
As its name suggests, it will succeed the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 that powered phones such as the Honour 200 Pro and Poco F6. Fabricated on a 4nm process node, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 packs three efficiency cores running at 2.0GHz, four performance cores running at 2.8GHz, and a Cortex-X4 prime core clocked at 3.0GHz. It comes with UFS 4.0 storage and up to 24GB of LPDDR5x RAM, with up to 4,200MHz speeds. Still, a more advanced process node may underpin the Snapdragon 8s Elite.
Cost of Next-Gen Qualcomm Chips Could Go Up
Compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite is a major improvement. We were really impressed when we tested it on the iQOO 13. However, Android OEMs may have to pay for this performance boost, which could result in more expensive next-generation Android phones. According to a story that surfaced earlier today, Qualcomm intends to raise the price of the Snapdragon 8 Elite (2nd Gen). According to reports, the existing chip costs $190, and even a 5% increase would make its replacement more expensive at more than $200.