Qualcomm has now also made it official that its new flagship smartphone processor will be Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, opening the avenue to much-awaited Snapdragon Summit 2025, which will happen on September 23. The new processor succeeds Snapdragon 8 Elite and also becomes the fifth generation in Snapdragon 8 family of flagship smartphone platforms.
Clarifying the new naming convention
Earlier reports speculated that Qualcomm would name its next flagship chip the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2. However, the company clarified that the “Gen 5” designation is not a generational skip but a continuation of its single-digit Snapdragon 8 series naming system. According to Qualcomm, the revised naming structure aims to simplify the product roadmap for consumers and provide clearer insight into the chip’s position within the flagship lineup.
The Snapdragon 8 series has evolved as follows:
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
- Snapdragon 8 Elite
- Snapdragon Elite 8 Gen 5
“Elite” is a name retained only by Qualcomm’s best-performing chips, and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 being at the top of the 8 series is no coincidence.
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Expected performance and features
Last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite brought forth Qualcomm’s Oryon CPU, a custom-design architecture that sought to enhance performance as well as power efficiency. However, Qualcomm has pointed out that its newest flagship chipset will expand upon such improvements, it will also include more improvements in terms of speed, power consumption, and general user experience.
This is in line with Qualcomm’s general approach to keep the generational naming of its chips more linear, facilitating consumers, as well as OEMs, in grasping performance enhancements with every new generation.
First devices to feature the chip
Xiaomi has confirmed it will be among the first OEMs to ship the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in its Xiaomi 17 series, expected soon after the chip’s official debut at the Snapdragon Summit. The partnership reflects Qualcomm’s longtime collaborations with its world’s top smartphone vendors to get new smartphone innovations to global consumers in a timely manner.