Qualcomm is looking to fight fire with fire. Just a few weeks after Apple unveiled the new A19 chips that power its iPhone 17 models, Qualcomm today (September 24) showed off the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 system-on-chip that will power many of the leading Android phones for the next year. And like its chief rival from Apple, this silicon promises a big performance boost.
The 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 features an 8-core CPU, along with upgraded GPU and NPU components that combine to deliver what Qualcomm touts as the world’s fastest mobile system-on-chip. And we can confirm that early benchmarks of a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5-powered reference device back up those claims.
There’s more to the latest Snapdragon chip than faster speeds on benchmarks, though. Qualcomm is also touting new AI capabilities and increased support for high-end video creation. And according to Qualcomm, it will all be coming to Android phones sooner than you might think.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 availability
Specifically, Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 will start showing up in devices “in the coming days.” Specific partners who’ve pledged to use the new silicon in their phones include Samsung, OnePlus, Honor, Xiaomi, Sony, ZTE and a host of other Chinese phone makers whose devices rarely reach the U.S. market. Some more specific announcements could even come at this week’s Snapdragon Summit, taking place in Hawaii, which I’m attending as a guest of Qualcomm.
It’s Samsung’s name, though, that figures to draw the biggest interest. The electronics giant typically turns to the top Snapdragon chipset to power its Galaxy S phones, so you’d imagine the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is in line to feature in at least the Galaxy S26 Ultra when that phone debuts, which is likely to happen at the start of 2026.
Samsung occasionally turns to its own Exynos chips for the Galaxy S and S Plus models, though this year’s Galaxy S25 devices use Snapdragon 8 Elite silicon across the board. We’ll see if that applies to the Galaxy S26 models due out at the start of next year.
By the way, if the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 name is throwing you in light of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset that powered most of the best Android phones shipping in 2025, keep in mind that was a bit of a departure for the name of Qualcomm’s top chip. The 2024 version was known as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 before Qualcomm added the Elite label to its top silicon last year. So the Gen 5 version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite system-on-chip would be the next version to come in 2026.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 performance boosts
As noted, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 just unveiled by Qualcomm features an 8-core CPU. That processor is based on the 3rd-generation version of Qualcomm’s Oryon CPU, and it features a pair of prime cores clocked at 4.6GHz, along with six performance cores running at 3.6GHz.
The next-generation Adreno GPU once gain features a sliced architecture, where dedicated memory is assigned out to each slice for smoother performance. A 1.2GHz clock speed supports demanding graphics.
All told, Qualcomm promises a 20% performance boost for the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5’s CPU, while the new Adreno GPU is set to offer a 23% uplift to graphics performance. You can read our full report on initial Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 benchmark testing, but the numbers we saw in our time with a Qualcomm reference unit surpassed the performance gains Apple delivered with its A19 Pro silicon. In some graphics tests, the latest Qualcomm chipset edged ahead of the A19 Pro after Apple’s top-of-the-line mobile silicon managed to close a performance gap that Snapdragon had extended in recent years.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 also has an upgraded Hexagon neural processing unit. That should result in a 37% boost in performance, Qualcomm says.
Agentic AI onboard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
The improved Hexagon engine means more than just improved on-device performance for AI features. Qualcomm says a focus of its new chips includes agentic AI support. That means the Qualcomm silicon will be able to power user-driven actions across apps.
From Qualcomm’s initial description, it sounds like the cross-app actions that proved to be a highlight of Samsung’s Galaxy S25 release earlier this year should become more prominent across top Android devices this fall. That means you’ll be able to ask your on-device assistant to perform actions that cut across multiple apps in just one command.
The way Qualcomm describes it, agentic AI will be able to tap into on-device learning to get a better idea of who’s using the phone. The end result should be more proactive recommendations from your on-device assistant with that data staying on your device for added privacy.
Better creative support from Snapdragon
Other features touted for the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 coming to new Android phones this year and beyond include a number of changes aimed at boosting image and video capture. The Spectra image signal processor on board the latest Snapdragon supports up to three rear cameras as before while also handling AI processing of images
Qualcomm says its ISP gets a 20-bit pipeline on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, boosting dynamic range by 4x over is predecessor. The result should be photos with richer colors and more detailed shadows without a loss in contrast.
But perhaps the biggest advance for the new Snapdragon’s video capture capabilities is its ability to record in the Advanced Professional Video (APV) code, a first for a mobile platform according to Qualcomm. That means Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5-powered phones would be able to capture near-lossless video quality, which would make those phones appealing tools for pro-level video production.
Apple has made a lot of hay in recent years about the video capture capabilities of its iPhones, with the iPhone 17 Pro models recently adding support for video standards such as ProRes RAW that appeal to content creators. APV support on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 indicates that Qualcomm’s not ready to cede that ground to its rival.
Other Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 highlights
There’s a couple other noteworthy improvements to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, starting with the Snapdragon X85 Modem included with the system-on-chip. Qualcomm introduced the new modem back in May, touting its speed and power efficiency. FastConnect 7900 mobile connectivity on board the new chipset promises Wi-Fi 7 support with integrated AI to help reduce battery consumption.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 also introduces Snapdragon Audio Sense, which brings new mic technology offering features like wind noise reduction, audio zoom and HDR audio.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 outlook
On paper, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 5 looks like a considerable upgrade over its predecessor — an impressive feat given how well the Snapdragon 8 Elite has performed in phones like the Galaxy S25, OnePlus 13 and more. We expect to hear a lot more about the chipset and see some demos of its features during the Snapdragon Summit this week.
But the real test for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 will be when it starts showing up in phones — especially Samsung’s latest — and we get a chance to see how it truly compares to the A19 Pro that powers Apple’s leading iPhones.
Follow Tom’s Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
More from Tom’s Guide