Qualcomm announced its new flagship processors yesterday. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 are their names. We’ve already compared the company’s top-end chip with MediaTek’s best, the Dimensity 9600 Pro, and now we’re here to do another comparison. In this article, we’ll compare the best of Qualcomm from last year with the best chip announced yesterday. In other words, this is the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 vs Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 comparison.
Now, in the table you’ll see below, you’ll see what the two chips offer side-by-side, which should give you a good idea of what the improvements are. There are quite a few of them, of course, as is the case every year. This time, highlighting a whole new process node is a must, along with AI improvements, amongst other things. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 jumps to a 2nm process, compared to its predecessor. With that being said, let’s get down to details.
| Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 | |
| Architecture | 64-bit | 64-bit |
| Process node | 3nm (N3P) | 2nm (N2P) |
| CPU | – Octa-core – Custom-built Qualcomm Oryon cores – 2 Prime cores up to 4.6GHz – 6 Performance cores up to 3.62GHz |
– Octa-core – Custom-built Qualcomm Oryon CPU – 2 Prime cores, up to 5.0GHz – 6 performance cores, up to 4.0GHz – 16MB Qualcomm Oryon Flex Cache – 10% improved CPU performance (over Gen 5) – 37% improved CPU power efficiency (over Gen 5) |
| GPU | – Last-gen Adreno GPU – 23% increase in overall performance (over previous gen) – 20% reduction in power consumption (over previous gen) |
– Adreno GPU with matrix cores – 35% improved GPU performance (over Gen 5) – 40% improved GPU power efficiency (over Gen 5) – Qualcomm Game Quick Touch 3.0 – Real-time hardware-accelerated Ray Tracing with Lumen Global illumination – API support: Vulkan 1.4, OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 3.0 FP |
| Memory | LPDDR5X up to 5,300MHz (up to 24GB) | – LPDDR5X/6 up to 5,300MHz – Memory Density: Up to 24GB |
| Storage | UFS 4.1 | USB 5.0 |
| Wi-Fi | – Wi-Fi 7 (a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) – Peak speed 5.8Gbps |
– FastConnect 8800 – Peak download speeds up to 11.6Gbps |
| 5G Modem | – Qualcomm X85 5G Modem-RF – Peak speed 12.5Gbps |
– Qualcomm X105 Modem-RF System – Peak download speeds up to 14.8Gbps – 5G Advanced, 5G mmWave, sub-6GHz, 5G standalone (SA), and non-standalone (NSA) modes, standalone mmWave, and mmWave-sub-6 dual connectivity, FDD, TDD – Uplink up to 4.2Gbps -mmWave: 8 carriers, 2×2 MIMO – Sub-6GHz: 4×6 MIMO – 6nm noode transceiver with 30% lower power consumption – 5th Gen Qualcomm 5G AI processor – Qualcomm 5G PowerSave – Fully integrated NB-NTN and NR-NTN support – 6-antenna (6Rx) support for smartphones – Qualcomm QTM565 mmWave module – Global 5G multi-SIM – 3GPP Release 19 hardware – NB-IoT for extended coverage – Supports all major global 5G bands, from 0.6 to 41GHz |
| NPU | – Qualcomm Hexagon – 16% better performance per watt |
– 14% improved NPU performance (over Gen 5) |
| ISP | – Qualcomm Spectra – Triple 20-bit AI-ISPs |
– Qualcomm Spectra ISP – Dual Always-Sensing ISPs to support two concurrent always-sensing cameras – Triple 20-bit AI-ISPs – Elite Color Engine with real-time 3D-LUTs – Supports HDR, 16-bit LOFIC, DCG+VS, and DCG Staggered, QDOL, Less Blanking, and Multi-Frame HDR image sensors |
| Bluetooth | – Bluetooth 6.0 – LE Audio, – Bluetooth Channel Sounding |
– Bluetooth 6.0 – LE Audio – Bluetooth Channel Sounding – Bluetooth High Data Throughput (HDT) |
| Display | 4K+ at 120Hz / QHD+ at 240GHz | On-device display support: – 4K+@120Hz – QHD+@240Hz Maximum external display support: – Up to 4K+@120Hz – Up to 8K@30Hz – HDR, HDR10+, HDR Vivid, Dolby Vision HDR |
| Location | – Concurrent GPS, Glonass, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS, NavIC – Triple frequency GNSS (L1/L2C/L5) – AI-based GNSS Location Gen 3 – Sensor-Assisted Positioning 6.0 – Urban pedestrian navigation with sidewalk accuracy – Global freeway lane-level vehicle navigation |
– Concurrent GPS, Glonass, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS, NavIC – Triple frequency GNSS – AI-based GNSS Location Gen 3 – Sensor-Assisted Positioning 6.0 – Global pedestrian navigation with sidewalk accuracy – Global freeway lane-level vehicle navigation |
| Camera | – Up to 48 MP triple camera at 30FPS with Zero Shutter Lag – Up to 108 MP single camera at 30FPS with Zero Shutter Lag – Up to 320-megapixel photo capture – Google Ultra HDR photo capture – Up to 10-bit color depth photo and video capture – Video capture HDR formats: HDR10+, HDR10, HLG, – 8K HDR video playback at 60FPS – 4K video capture at 120FPS – Slow-mo video capture at 1080p at 480FPS |
– Up to 64MP triple camera with Zero Shutter Lag – Up to 108MP single camera with Zero Shutter Lag – Up to 320MP photo capture – Cinema-grade video with APV support – 8k60 video capture – 4k240 ultra HD slow-motion video – 10-bit HEIF: HEIC photo capture – AI video processing |
| USB | Type-C Version 3.1 Gen 2 | USB 3.1 Gen 2 |
| Charging | Qualcomm® Quick Charge 5 Technology |
Qualcomm Quick Charge 5 |
| Audio | – Snapdragon Sound Technology Suite – Qualcomm® aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless audio |
– Qualcomm Sound Technology Suite – Qualcomm aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless audio – Qualcomm Aqstic audio codec – Qualcomm Aqstic smart speaker amplifier – Playback: -108dB – Qualcomm Aqstic Speaker Max – Qualcomm Audio and Voice Communication Suite – Qualcomm Spatial Audio Renderer with head-tracking |
| AI | Qualcomm AI Engine | – Advanced agentic AI with deeper contextual understanding – Significantly enhanced on device AI performance – 30B+ parameters MoE (Mixture of Experts) models 50% larger shared memory – 20% improved AI performance per-watt (over Gen 5) |
| Power Savings | Qualcomm® 5G PowerSave | N/A |
What OEMs will use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6?
So, just to be clear, the difference between the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is not massive. The latter gets more cache, supports LPDDR6 RAM, and supports UFS 5.0. There are several other differences, but only a couple of them. They are even made on the same 2nm process node. With that in mind, quite a few OEMs will use the Snapdragon 8 Elite (Extreme) Gen 6 in the next year or so.
Qualcomm specifically mentioned HONOR, iQOO, Motorola, OnePlus, OPPO, Redmi, RedMagic, Vivo, and Xiaomi. The story doesn’t end there, of course. For example, we know that the OnePlus 16 will utilize the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, and the same goes for the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max. Both of those devices are coming soon. The Motorola Signature 27 was announced at the same time as the company’s new chips, and we know that the ‘Extreme’ version will fuel that device as well.
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