Unveiled at this year’s Snapdragon Summit, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 has officially landed — and it’s a monster of a mobile chip.

Touted by Qualcomm as the “world’s fastest,” this new system-on-a-chip is designed to power the next generation of high-end Android phones. The headline features are all about raw performance, efficiency, and a deep, personalized dive into on-device AI.

Driving the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is the third-generation Qualcomm Oryon CPU, which the company claims is the fastest mobile CPU ever. This new architecture, built on a 3nm process, promises a 20% boost in overall performance and a 35% improvement in power efficiency compared to its predecessor. The upgraded Adreno GPU also gets a massive bump, with a claimed 23% increase in graphics performance and a 20% drop in power consumption, making it a serious contender for gamers.

Perhaps the most significant leap forward is the Qualcomm Hexagon NPU, which is 37% faster and a key enabler for what Qualcomm calls “agentic AI.” Think of it as something that learns from your behavior and can take personalized actions across different apps, all while keeping your data on your unit.

The processor inside your next smartphone is like nothing you've ever seen before. The fastest mobile CPU on the planet is here. 🔁 if you want one.

– Up to 20% CPU performance improvement

– Up to 32% responsiveness improvements

– Up to 35% better CPU power efficiency… pic.twitter.com/dH7cd57I3r

— Snapdragon (@Snapdragon) September 24, 2025

Official Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 video

Beyond the raw numbers, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is packed with features for creators and power users. It’s the first mobile platform to support the Advanced Professional Video or APV codec, which allows for near-lossless video capture and extensive post-production control. Combined with a new “computational video pipeline” that applies AI enhancements to video on a frame-by-frame basis, this chip is positioning itself as a legitimate tool for pro-level video production.

For connectivity, it features the X85 modem, which boasts 50% lower gaming latency thanks to AI-enhanced Wi-Fi, along with support for the latest Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth standards.

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This chip is going to show up in a wide range of devices from just about every major Android manufacturer. The first to be confirmed is the Xiaomi 17 Series, which will launch in the coming days. Other global OEMs and smartphone brands including HONOR, iQOO, nubia, OnePlus, OPPO, POCO, realme, Redmi, RedMagic, ROG, Samsung, Sony, vivo, and ZTE have also confirmed they’ll be using the new SoC in their upcoming flagships. Rumors suggest we’ll see it in devices like the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, the OnePlus 15, and the vivo X300 Ultra.

If you’ve been waiting for a new smartphone that feels like a true generational leap, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 looks like it’s ready to deliver.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 product brief, with listing of specs and features

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