The Future is Faster: Android's Next Monster Chipset Might Land Sooner
The recent weeks have seen numerous chipsets introduced, including budget flagship and mid-tier entries from Qualcomm. However, attention is now shifting to the chipmaker's next flagship mobile SoC, the successor to the Snapdragon 8 Elite. The company has announced that it has set the Snapdragon Summit at an earlier window, potentially accelerating the release of the 2nd generation Snapdragon 8 Elite.
Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC in October of last year, with major OEMs launching the first devices powered by the chip not long after the announcement. Apparently, the company is now shifting its conference almost a month early.
At Computex 2025, Qualcomm held a keynote, and towards the end of the presentation of CEO Cristiano Amon, a slide confirmed that the next Snapdragon Summit will take place in Hawaii from September 23 to 25. This positions the summit almost a month earlier than previous events, with Snapdragon Summit 2024 having been held between October 21 and 23.
While nothing is confirmed about the specific agenda, it is highly likely that the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 will be unveiled there. If this happens, it could subsequently accelerate manufacturers' adoption of the next-generation Qualcomm silicon.
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Among the major brands expected to get the first access to the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 are Xiaomi and OnePlus. Xiaomi was reportedly the first to ship smartphones powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, with the Xiaomi 15 (Pro) breaking cover at the end of October last year.
It's currently unclear if Samsung will also adjust its Galaxy S26 release, which is expected to run on the upcoming Snapdragon platform. The Galaxy S25 already saw an earlier release this year.
In terms of changes in the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, reports indicate it will be manufactured using the second-generation 3 nm fabrication process. This means it might see efficiency improvements. The chip itself will reportedly sport a new generation of Oryon processor cores, a more powerful Adreno 840 GPU, and a more capable neural engine for AI tasks. An alleged benchmark that surfaced recently suggests it should bring 26% CPU and 30% GPU performance uplift, respectively, which are quite notable.
Qualcomm's accelerated timeline might also be a response to the competition in the mobile SoC market, with the likes of Xiaomi beginning to make their custom chips that will power some of their devices.
Are you picking up a new flagship device with the next-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC this year? We want to hear your plans.
Source: Notebookcheck
