Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 could be a revelation for 2026 Android phones
Speed, efficiency and smarts all promised for Qualcomm's latest flagship silicon
The flagship phone world is kicking off its latest generation even earlier than usual. Qualcomm has officially revealed its new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset – a whole month sooner than when its predecessor made a first appearance last year. You aren’t going to have to wait long to see them in the metal, either: the first phones with Elite Gen 5 power are set to be revealed in the next few days.
Don’t let the name confuse you: last year’s 8 Elite was rumoured to be Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 until Qualcomm decided its Oryon CPU was such a big deal it deserved a rebrand. So while this isn’t Snapdragon Elite Gen 2 (which I think would’ve been simpler), we’re still promised a big generational leap.
Qualcomm reckons the third-gen Oryon CPU at the heart of each 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset is the fastest mobile CPU ever – and with its two Prime cores able to hit a breakneck 4.6GHz, it puts Mediatek’s recently-announced Dimensity 9500 in the shade. Its six Performance cores are no slouches either, topping out at 3.62GHz.
The result should be a 20% overall performance hike over Snapdragon 8 Elite, which already dominated 2025’s smartphone benchmark leaderboards. And while it’s machined on the same 3nm process as the last-gen chip was, Qualcomm still reckons we’re in line for greater power efficiency.
Other big upgrades include the Adreno GPU, which should clock in up to 23% faster 3D performance. A big part of that will be High Performance Memory (HPM), which gives the graphics core 18MP of dedicated RAM for visuals, and support for Mesh shading in console-grade graphics engines like Unreal Engine 5. If your favourite mobile games weren’t hitting the a console-equivalent 120fps before, theres a much better chance of it doing so now.
The Hexagon NPU will apparently go even better – a 37% uplift in AI-assistance is promised. It has closer ties to the cellular modem now – upgraded to a new X85 5G model for 2025, as announced at Mobile World Congress back in March – and can prioritise your network traffic so games get priority over background downloads.
Benchmark runs on a (very purple) reference device backed up Qualcomm’s performance claims, though it’ll be interesting to see whether certain phone brands will squeeze any more muscle out of it – Samsung has made it a habit of commissioning bespoke “for Galaxy” versions with higher clock speeds.
Creative types will appreciate support for Advanced Professional Video (APV) video recording, for high quality clips that don’t eat up all your phone’s storage space. The image processor has also been upgraded with context-aware autofocus, auto exposure and auto white balance, for cleaner fire-and-forget photos.
A long list of big-name phone brands have already got in line to launch Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5-powered handsets. Honor, OnePlus, Asus ROG, Samsung, Sony, Xiaomi and Oppo are just a few of the heavy hitters, and even firms better known for their affordable fare like Poco and Realme are getting in on the action. Expect the first few to be revealed iminently.
Thanks to Snapdragon for inviting me to be their guest at Snapdragon Summit. All experiences were hosted but no additional compensation was received.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
