- Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 platform for future smartphones
- It focuses not only on running functions, but also collecting information for future AI models
- The first Elite Gen 5 phones will come from Xiaomi, and will probably feed a rumored Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
At the Snapdragon Summit, Qualcomm today announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite 5 mobile platform, the chipset that will probably feed the most new Android android intelligent phones this year this year, such as the alleged Samsung Galaxy S26 and OnePlus 14. Of course, the platform focuses on training the characteristics of AI, and goes beyond capturing information that will capture information that will capture information that will capture information that will capture information that will capture information that will Personal energy learning.
The model that Qualcomm has in mind is the so -called agent. AIntic’s concept is an automatic learning tool that does everything for you. Whatever you want to do with your smartphone, instead of playing and sliding, just talk to the AI agent. You will discover the necessary steps and take those actions.
In addition to application processing faster and greater graphic capabilities, Qualcomm is focusing more holistically in the future with the center. As he has been saying for years, AI is the new user interface, which means that artificial intelligence will be the interface we use to control our smartphones and laptops.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 will use your phone as training data for future IAI
Although past chips sets have included a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to handle automatic learning tools such as large language models (LLM), Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 will have improved capabilities to collect sensor data from your smartphone. That can include its camera, microphone, accelerometer (movement) and magnetometer (compass), and any other sensor that collects data.
Why does Snapdragon need your sensor data? Qualcomm says that previous AI models have been trained in Internet data, but plans to take advantage of its position within millions of devices to collect all the training data that you can of your smartphone sensors. If you have a Snapdragon 8 Elite 5 5 device, the use of the device will create training data that can be used for future AI models.
That means that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 will not only generate images with generative AI tools, it will also capture images of the camera sensors or the sound of microphones, data from any of the on -board sensors, to feed future automatic learning models. These models must still be built, but phone manufacturers and IA developers will have more tools at the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 than never.
Is the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 the fastest mobile platform? Yeah.
Qualcomm says that its new chipset is the fastest mobile platform that you will find, a shot directly in Apple, which exactly made the same claim about its Pro Apple A19 Pro chipset on the iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone air. In the past, the Snapdragon 8 Elite was the fastest chip set for multinuk yield, while Apple chipset was faster at the reference points of a single nucleus. This year’s Apple A19 Pro was the fastest in both types of tests.
I had the opportunity to compare the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 on a reference device, and so far Qualcomm’s statements have proven to be true, although that can change when I can try the new platform on a real retail smartphone.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is the fastest phone I have tried. I tried it against a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra with a Snapdragon 8 Elite For the galaxy Chipset inside, and against an iPhone 17 Pro Max with the Apple A19 Pro chipset. In each reference test that I tried from 3dmark and Geekbench, the Snapdragon Gen 5 chipset beat the other platforms.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 seems much faster than the Snapdragon 8 Elite, and marginally faster than Apple A19 Pro, but the difference is real and remarkable in graphic intensive reference tests. Actually, you can see that the Snapdragon is running at a higher frame rate, they are not just meaningless numbers.
This is when you can buy a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 phone
Even so, it will depend on telephone manufacturers to use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 throughout its potential. We hope that the first phone with the new platform inside is the next Xiaomi 17 series, closely followed by OnePlus (and Oppo), if recent history is a guide. OnePlus 13 of last year was launched in China almost immediately after the Snapdragon 8 Elite was announced.
Eventually, Samsung is likely to use the Snapdragon 8 Elite 5 5 Platform in some or all its Galaxy S26 devices. Samsung historically launches its flagship phones in January, and during the last years, it has obtained a special Snapdragon edition of Qualcomm with a slightly overclociated primary nucleus. That gives an advantage in the reference tests, even if the difference is insignificant.
Qualcomm offers specifications for its smartphone platforms, but these are the theoretical capabilities of the chipset, and will depend on telephone manufacturers to carry the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 to its maximum potential.
For example, Qualcomm says that image processors of the GEN 5 platform can drive up to three 48MP cameras simultaneously for a triple camera recording. We still need a smartphone manufacturer to build that phone with three cameras and software to work.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 could be excellent for games and battery life
Players must be excited about the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Qualcomm says that the new Adreno Inside GPU will offer a 23% increase to the general yield and a 20% reduction in energy use.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite was especially noticeable in my tests for its efficiency: phones with that Snapdragon inside lasted much longer than phones with other chipsets. I am excited to know that the Gen 5 platform offers even further battery life potential.
We will have a deeper immersion in the capragon 8 Elite Gen 5 platform, as well as the new portable chips Extreme Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, as the Snapdragon summit continues. Qualcomm flew to telephone and laptops editors Techradar to Maui to cover the event, and we will be on the site to deepen the potential of the platforms and roast Qualcomm executives for their opinion about what comes next.
