The Android Chip to Beat in 2026 Gets a Name
With less than 10 days left until its tech conference, Qualcomm has already revealed the name of its most important announcement at the event. The successor to this year's flagship Android processor will be presented during the Snapdragon Summit 2025, and if you thought it was going to be called Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, you were wrong.
Snapdragon Summit starts on the 23rd of September in Hawaii, and as in previous years, all attention will be on Qualcomm's next top-of-the-line mobile chip. But not one to hold on to logical naming schemes, the North American company will be calling it Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.
What is a generation?
Qualcomm is aware it is skipping three generations, enough to publish a blog post explaining (or not) the reasoning behind going from "Gen 1" to "Gen 5". Apparently, the strategy is to align the rest of its mobile processor portfolio into the same generation, almost confirming rumors of upcoming "Gen 5" chips below the Elite range.
It remains to be seen if the same logic will trickle down Qualcomm's product stack, but since all intermediate chips from the company are in their fourth generation, it wouldn't be hard to do so.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves, after all, the company we are talking about is not really famous for keeping a consistent naming strategy for its products:
- 2025: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
- 2024: Snapdragon 8 Elite
- 2023: Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
- 2022: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
- 2021: Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
- 2020: Snapdragon 888
- 2019: Snapdragon 865
- 2019: Snapdragon 855
- 2018: Snapdragon 845
- 2017: Snapdragon 835
- 2015: Snapdragon 820
Android Performance Champion for 2026?
Besides giving excuses for the new name, Qualcomm made bold claims that its Elite line is "reserved for products [...] that push boundaries in capability, experience, and innovation.". We will learn more next week, when Qualcomm will take the stage to present not only the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 but also other chips that we will find in mobile phones and other devices in 2026. Stay tuned!
What do you think of this new naming scheme? Have you stopped caring about names and just want to know more about the product's capabilities? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Source: Qualcomm
