Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon 8 Elite chip for next-gen premium AI phones

Successor to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the Snapdragon 8 Elite features an optimised Oryon CPU and an AI Engine supporting on-device multi-modal generative AI applications

American chipmaker Qualcomm has launched its new flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite System-on-Chip (SoC) for premium smartphones. As the successor to last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the new processor adopts the "Elite" title from Qualcomm’s PC chips. The Snapdragon 8 Elite integrates an Oryon CPU, which also powers the Snapdragon X Elite platform for PCs.

Qualcomm announced that OEMs and smartphone brands, including ASUS, HONOR, iQOO, OnePlus, OPPO, Realme, Samsung, Vivo, and Xiaomi, will be launching devices with the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC in the coming weeks.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite: Details

Built on a 3nm architecture, the Snapdragon 8 Elite features a second-generation Oryon CPU optimised for mobile platforms. The chip uses a 2+6 octa-core processor design, with two Prime cores operating at a clock speed of up to 4.32GHz and six Performance cores with peak clock speed of 3.53GHz. This configuration delivers a 45 per cent improvement in single-core and multi-core performance while being 44 per cent more power-efficient.

 

The chip also includes an upgraded Qualcomm Adreno graphics processing unit (GPU) with a sliced architecture similar to the CPU, enhancing performance by 40 per cent and boosting power efficiency by 40 per cent.

Additional features include the integration of the X80 5G Modem-RF System, support for dual-channel LP-DDR5x memory, and more.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite: On-device AI

For AI workloads, the Snapdragon 8 Elite incorporates a Qualcomm AI Engine that combines the CPU, GPU, and a dedicated neural processing unit (NPU). Qualcomm stated that the new Hexagon NPU offers 45 per cent better AI performance and 45 per cent improved efficiency per watt, along with support for on-device multi-modal generative AI applications.

The NPU also powers Qualcomm’s "AI ISP" (image signal processor), enabling AI-driven camera features such as Semantic Segmentation at 4K resolution and an on-device video object eraser for removing unwanted elements from videos.