Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5: Powering Next-Gen Android Phones with Advanced AI and Performance

Your Next Android Flagship Phone Will Get These 3 Updates in 2026

Katie is a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET's European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET's Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the

Your next Android phone could get a significant performance boost (Samsung models included)

Improvements should enable better phone speeds, camera, AI, and more. Nearly every major smartphone launch in the past year has shared a common theme: the devices have an increasing amount of on-device, advanced AI features. These experiences are only made possible by the chipset powering the

Qualcomm announces the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

Qualcomm has formally unveiled its latest flagship SoC, destined for Android flagships in the very near future: the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. The name was revealed by way of a blog post last week, and if it seems like the company skipped forward a generation or two, that's kind of the point. It

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Might Power Your Next Android Phone

With over a decade of experience reporting on consumer technology, James covers mobile phones, apps, operating systems, wearables, AI, and more. Don't miss out on our latest stories. Add PCMag as a preferred source on Google. It's that time of year again when the smartphone arms race heats up.

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Chip Will Boost AI in 2026's Most Powerful Phones

Expertise Smartphones | Gaming | Telecom industry | Mobile semiconductors | Mobile gaming At Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit off the west coast of Maui, the company unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, its next-generation chip intended for next year's top-tier Android phones. The Snapdragon 8

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 puts a 4.6 GHz processor in your pocket

Qualcomm has officially unveiled its latest flagship mobile platform, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and the specifications are nothing short of outrageous for a smartphone. It features Qualcomm's latest Oryon cores, with two cores clocked at an astonishingly high 4.6 GHz. The other six performance

This new Snapdragon chipset supports 220 tokens per second - here's why that's a big deal

It features the Qualcomm Oryon CPU and next-gen Qualcomm Adreno GPU. In the AI-first world we live in, helpful AI features matter more and more to smartphone buyers. As a result, chipsets behind these devices have to become increasingly powerful to support these features, and Qualcomm's new

Qualcomm pushes hybrid AI forward with Snapdragon X2 Elite and 8 Elite Gen 5

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. Connecting the dots: The future of AI isn't confined to the cloud - or limited to a single device. At this year's Snapdragon Summit, Qualcomm outlined its vision for hybrid AI, where models and

Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 claims to be the 'world's fastest' mobile chip

Qualcomm today announced the flagship system-on-a-chip that will grace almost every high-end Android smartphone for the next 12 months. Dubbed the Snapdragon Elite Gen 5 (don't ask where versions two through four went), the company claims a 20% boost in year-over-year CPU performance and a 23%

Qualcomm Just Beat Apple In The Smartphone Performance Wars

We're nearing the tail-end of 2025, which means we're already about to see the hardware that will power next year's phones. Now, Qualcomm has just announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and while that name is awful, the chip is actually pretty good. Qualcomm has just unveiled the Snapdragon 8

I got a glimpse of future Android smartphones - here are 3 major upgrades you can expect

While chipsets may not be the most exciting component of a phone, they are responsible for powering a lot of the activities you enjoy every day, including gaming, photography, audio, internet connectivity, and, of course, AI features. That's why Qualcomm's announcement of its new Snapdragon 8 Elite

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 AI features 'will be an extension of you,' Qualcomm exec says

A closer look at what Qualcomm's latest chip means for mobile AI Artificial intelligence figures to play a big role on major Android phones in the coming year, and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 system-on-chip powering those devices will be a big reason why. The chip, introduced at last week's

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5: Everything we know so far

This week, Qualcomm unveiled its next-gen mobile system-on-a-chip (SoC), the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip. We live in a world where tech refreshes every year. That isn't just true for smartphones like the iPhone 17 or the Samsung Galaxy S26, but the technology inside of them as well. For

Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 will power the next Galaxy and phones that will hear and see everything

The first Elite Gen 5 phones will come from Xiaomi, and it will likely power a rumored Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra At the Snapdragon Summit, Qualcomm today announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile platform, the chipset that will likely power this year's newest flagship Android smartphones, like

Your next Android phone could be a massive upgrade - thanks to Qualcomm's newest chipset

Improvements should enable better phone speeds, camera, AI, and more. Nearly every major smartphone launch in the past year has shared a common theme: the devices have an increasing amount of on-device, advanced AI features. These experiences are only made possible by the chipset powering the

Sure, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 looks like a powerful chip -- but there's a bigger feature it could unleash for Android phones

Here's the feature that really excites me with Qualcomm's latest chip The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 announced by Qualcomm this week is certainly a powerful chip, and I've got the benchmarks to prove it. Thanks to improvements covering the CPU and GPU on the new chip, Qualcomm's latest silicon races

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 promises big performance and AI upgrades -- and we could see them in the Galaxy S26 Ultra

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

Qualcomm launches Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 with Big Gains in CPU, GPU, and AI

Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile Platform, calling it the world's fastest system-on-a-chip (SoC) for smartphones. The new platform is the latest in the Snapdragon 8 Elite series and will be featured in upcoming flagship devices from leading global brands in the coming

Qualcomm Brings The 'Future Of Mobile Technology' To Consumers With Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 - Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Qualcomm Inc QCOM unveiled its newest Snapdragon mobile platform on Wednesday, which includes a large focus on the growth of agentic artificial intelligence. QCOM shares are trending higher. Review the technical setup here. New Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite