News + Trends
Qualcomm presents PC chips with allegedly groundbreaking efficiency
by Samuel Buchmann
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5: A third more power for smartphones
25.9.2025
Translation: machine translated
Qualcomm presents the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 with more power, better efficiency, AI boost and plenty of speed for upcoming smartphone flagships.
Qualcomm has unveiled a new high-end system-on-chip (SoC) at its Snapdragon Summit 2025: the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. The successor to the previous 8 Elite boosts performance and expands AI capabilities.
Built with two prime cores
The new chip is manufactured using the 3-nanometre production process and is based on the third generation of the Oryon CPU design. It consists of two prime cores and six performance cores: the prime cores clock up to 4.6 gigahertz (GHz), the performance cores up to 3.62 GHz. According to Qualcomm, this is around 20 per cent more performance with up to 35 per cent better efficiency. In terms of GPU performance, the Gen 5 delivers 23 per cent more power, while at the same time reducing power consumption by 20 per cent compared to its predecessor. The chip also integrates Adreno High Performance Memory (HPM) - a dedicated cache for computationally intensive graphics tasks. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 uses a Hexagon NPU for the AI on the SoC. Qualcomm claims a 37 per cent increase in performance compared to previous generations. Hardware-supported AI acceleration is also possible - even directly in the CPU.
Source: Qualcomm
The Gen 5 is the first mobile SoC to support APV codecs (Advanced Professional Video). Together with «Dragon Fusion», the optimised video pipeline, each individual image is treated like a photo - including tone mapping and noise reduction. The data throughput for connectivity is also increased: Qualcomm has installed the X85 modem. This enables a theoretical downlink speed of up to 12.5 gigabits per second (Gbps) and an uplink speed of up to 3.7 Gbps. Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0 and Ultrawideband are also available. There is also said to be a 40 per cent increase in efficiency compared to its predecessor.
Benchmarks show an increase of almost a third
There are still no benchmarks on devices for end users. Initial tests on Qualcomm's platforms show scores of 20 to 29 per cent higher than those of Samsung's Galaxy 25 Ultra (with the Snapdragon 8 Elite). Geekbench 6.5 achieved values of 3831 for Single Core and 12,383 for Multi Core - the values for the S25 Ultra are 3100 and 9959 respectively.
Qualcomm initially wants to install its new chip in the Xiaomi 17 series, followed by other manufacturers. The market launch is set to take place at MWC 2026 in Barcelona.
Header image: Shutterstock
I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue.
Computing
Follow topics and stay updated on your areas of interest
News + Trends
From the latest iPhone to the return of 80s fashion. The editorial team will help you make sense of it all.
Show allThese articles might also interest you
1 comment
later