Qualcomm unveils 2nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Extreme Gen 6 chips with speeds up to 5 GHz

Qualcomm unveiled two next-generation flagship mobile platforms at the Snapdragon Summit: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. Both are manufactured using TSMC’s 2-nm process and feature Oryon processors with clock speeds up to 5 GHz. Qualcomm calls this the first mobile CPU to reach this milestone.

Architecture and Performance

The processor architecture of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Extreme Gen 6 is nearly identical. It includes two Prime cores with frequencies up to 5.0 GHz and six Performance cores up to 4.0 GHz. The Oryon Flex Cache size is 16 MB.

Compared to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the performance of the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 increased by 10%, and the Extreme version by 13%. For both chips, Qualcomm claims a 37% improvement in processor energy efficiency.

The platforms support up to 24 GB of LPDDR5X or LPDDR6 RAM with speeds up to 5300 MHz and UFS 5.0 storage.

Differences in GPU

The standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 sees a 35% increase in performance GPU compared to the previous generation, with energy efficiency improving by 40%. Hexagon NPU performance has increased by 14%, and AI performance per watt by 20%.

Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 features more powerful Adreno graphics with dedicated matrix cores for AI and 18 MB of Adreno High Performance Memory. Qualcomm claims a performance increase of GPU by 44% and a 40% improvement in energy efficiency.

Matrix cores are used by the Adreno Neural Fusion technology for neural network-based image upscaling, frame generation, and graphics reconstruction. According to Qualcomm, in supported games this reduces power consumption by up to GPU%. Support for Neural Fusion is provided for Unreal Engine, Unity, and the NetEase Messiah engine.

Hexagon NPU in Extreme is 35% faster and 33% more power-efficient. The total memory for NPU has been increased by 50%, enabling the direct execution of Mixture of Experts models with over 30 billion parameters and context up to 32K on the smartphone.

Cameras and video

Both platforms are equipped with a triple 20-bit Spectra AI-ISP. They support cameras with resolutions up to 320 MP, capture at resolutions up to 108 MP without shutter lag, and simultaneous operation of three cameras each with resolutions up to 64 MP.

The standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 allows recording 8K video at 30 frames per second and slow-motion 4K video at 120 frames per second.

In the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, these metrics have been increased to 8K at 60 frames per second and 4K at 240 frames per second. The flagship platform also gained hardware support for the professional video codec Advanced Professional Video (APV), an Elite Color Engine with real-time 3D LUT, and decoding of VVC/H.266.

AI capabilities

Qualcomm emphasized autonomous AI agents capable of executing action sequences and considering user context directly on the device.

The updated Qualcomm Sensing Hub includes two Micro NPU and two always-on image processing blocks. Qualcomm claims an 85% increase in its computational performance and a 20% improvement in energy efficiency. The Sensing Hub can run local models with up to 200 million parameters.

The Personal Scribe feature is built on this system. It is designed for local processing of messages, emails, and conversations to generate a personal context that AI agents can use for subsequent actions and suggestions.

Connectivity and wireless interfaces

Both platforms are equipped with the Qualcomm X105 5G Modem-RF, supporting 5G Advanced and 3GPP Release 19 specifications. The theoretical maximum download speed reaches 14.8 Gbit/s, while upload speeds reach 4.2 Gbit/s.

The X105 also supports satellite technologies NB-NTN and NR-NTN for messaging, voice, data, and video. However, the availability of satellite features in a specific smartphone will depend on the device manufacturer, carrier, and region.

FastConnect 8800 handles local wireless connectivity. The system supports Wi-Fi 8 with an antenna configuration of 4×4 and a theoretical speed of up to 11.6 Gbit/s, as well as Bluetooth 6.0, UWB, and Thread 1.4.

First smartphones

Qualcomm confirmed that devices from HONOR, iQOO, Motorola, OnePlus, OPPO, REDMI, RedMagic, vivo, and Xiaomi will use new platforms.

The Xiaomi 18 Pro will get the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, while the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max will use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. Motorola has already showcased the Signature 27 with the Extreme version of the platform.

Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is also slated for the OnePlus 16, Honor Magic 9 Pro Max, iQOO 16, iQOO Pad Ultra tablet, and RedMagic 12 Pro+. The first devices based on the new platforms will hit the market in the coming weeks and months.