Copyright Android Police
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is the processor you probably want in your next phone, but there’s another Qualcomm chip which threatens to confuse anyone who doesn’t look really closely at future phone spec sheets. It’s the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. Spot the difference? Of course, but what does dropping the Elite name actually mean? Qualcomm doesn’t get names The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 isn’t a secret. Qualcomm mentioned it right at the end of its Snapdragon Summit keynote presentation in September, saying: We have one more addition to our premium tier line-up. Introducing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. We developed this chipset to give you more choices and flexibility while still delivering flagship features. We will have more to share about this platform later this year. Weeks later, Qualcomm has not shared anything official about the chip and a search of its website only returns product results for the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, heralding the many irritating search issues people will inevitably encounter when the non-Elite Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 is released. Qualcomm has long had a problem with naming its many different chips, and while the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is clumsily named, it at least makes sense. Dropping Elite to show the new chip isn't as hot also makes sense when said out loud, but it's not the most consumer or web search-friendly option. How will it differ to the Elite? Qualcomm isn’t saying anything about the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, but a leak has given us a clue as to how it will differ from the Elite model. The chip will apparently be built using TSMC’s 3nm process and use the Oryon CPU architecture, just like the Elite. The octa-core chip will consist of two 3.8GHz “super cores” and six 3.32GHz big cores, plus an Adreno 840GPU, according to industry source Digital Chat Station. If correct, this will make it less powerful than the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which has two 4.6GHz main cores and six 3.6GHz big cores, along with an upgraded Adreno GPU. The source says the GPU architecture will be the same in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, but with reduced performance. The leak also includes some benchmark figures, which it’s claimed are very similar to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and singles out the GPU as the main “downgrade” between the two. When will it arrive? The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 doesn’t sound like a mid-range chip, and if the performance hinted at in the leak are accurate, it will likely occupy a similar space as the Elite version. It just won’t have the same spec sheet appeal due to the lack of Elite in the name, making the choice of name unfortunate. But when will it arrive, and in what phones? OnePlus has said it will be the first to use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, calling it “a powerful new flagship” with “cutting edge technology.” OnePlus Turbo could be the first Recently, rumors have spread about a OnePlus Turbo, which was linked to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. However, the Turbo was expected to be a gaming phone, but if the GPU inside the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 is the chip’s weakness, this seems less likely. OnePlus has only just revealed the OnePlus 15, and confirmed its global release date, making the arrival of another phone unlikely for a few weeks yet. It has to wait for Qualcomm to provide full details about the chip anyway, which the company said would come before the end of the year. One to look out for? Most eyes will continue to look enviously towards the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Just don’t mistake the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 as a typo when it eventually arrives, because it looks like there will be a few important differences.
