Flagship smartphones with the most powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite chip have been named Qualcomm, which unveiled the flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite single-chip system, which replaced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 platform. The developer calls the new product, which will be installed in future top Android smartphones, the industry’s most powerful chipset for mobile gadgets. The first models with advanced chips from Xiaomi, Realme, Samsung, and other brands are already known.
Features with gamers in mind
The central eight-core processor includes two powerful cores with a very high clock frequency of 4.32 GHz and six high-performance cores with a frequency of up to 3.53 GHz. The second-level (L2) cache, with a volume of 24 MB and fast support for LPDDR5X RAM, with a frequency of 5300 MHz, is also the basis for the most complex computing tasks.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite is built on Taiwanese semiconductor company TSMC’s advanced 3nm process technology. Qualcomm claims a 45% performance boost and 44% power efficiency improvement over the previous-generation chipset.
For gamers, there is an upgraded Adreno graphics processor, which provides a 40 percent improvement in performance and the same level of reduction in energy consumption. The performance of ray tracing technology, responsible for the realistic behavior of light and shadows in games, has increased by 35%. The developers note that the average duration of gaming sessions has risen to 2.5 hours.
Finally, the Snapdragon 8 Elite is the first Qualcomm SoC to support the updated Unreal Engine 5.3 gaming engine with its advanced Nanite virtual geometry technology.
Artificial intelligence and new possibilities for shooting
Much attention was also paid to artificial intelligence’s capabilities. The new Hexagon neural processor provides a 45% increase in AI processing speed while maintaining high performance. Multimodal integration of generative artificial intelligence is provided, supporting both large and small models. The system’s flexibility offers developers additional opportunities to implement more different functions in mobile gadgets.
Regarding shooting capabilities, a new AI ISP element has replaced the previous Spectra ISP image processing unit. This element gives the neural processor direct access to the camera’s raw data to make AI-powered adjustments in real-time at 4K and 60 fps.
Qualcomm has added semantic segmentation technology, where each object in the frame is assigned pixels of a separate class. This provides additional opportunities for deep editing of photos and videos.
Which smartphones will receive Snapdragon 8 Elite?
Following the premiere of the flagship Qualcomm chip, several major electronics manufacturers announced their new products equipped with Snapdragon 8 Elite. Among them:
Xiaomi 15 and 15 Pro. The premiere of the new flagships of the Chinese tech giant, which will be the first smartphones on Snapdragon 8 Elite, may take place next week. Preliminary tests on Geekbench showed a 50 percent increase in performance compared to its predecessor. Judging by the results, the new product from Xiaomi will be one of the most powerful smartphones in the world;
iQOO 13. One of the first gadgets with the new chip will also be the new iQOO model. It will be equipped with a 6.82-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 2K and a frame rate of 144 Hz, a 6150 mAh battery with support for ultra-fast charging with a power of 120 W, as well as three 50-megapixel cameras enclosed in a module with an LED backlight. A 32 MP sensor with 4K support will be responsible for selfies;
Honor Magic7. The Chinese flagship smartphone will be presented on October 31. The developers promise a telephoto camera with optical zoom, an under-screen ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, as well as a three-dimensional owner identification system similar to Apple’s Face ID;
Realme GT 7 Pro. The gadget will premiere in November 2024. It will receive full protection against water and dust of the IP68 standard, a huge 6500 mAh battery with support for fast charging at 100 W, as well as a block with four cameras, including a periscope telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom;
Asus ROG Phone 9. The flagship model of the Taiwanese company will debut on November 19. It is assumed that the new product will become the most powerful and advanced gaming smartphone in the industry;
OnePlus 13. The gadget is scheduled to debut on October 31. Among its main features: 1 TB of built-in memory, a 6000 mAh battery with 100 W charging and a 50 W wireless system, as well as a 32 MP front camera;
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. The South Korean company has not yet officially announced the future flagship smartphone, but it is assumed that it will traditionally debut in early 2025. Depending on the market and the modifications, Samsung will use different chips in the line. At the same time, the top version of the Ultra should exclusively receive an overclocked version of Snapdragon 8 Elite.
