On October 21, 2024, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. This is now the company’s flagship silicon, and it also gets a new name. It now uses the “Elite” name that Qualcomm is also using on its PC chipsets, such as the Snapdragon X Elite. The reason for this name change is that Qualcomm uses the term “Elite” for its most advanced products.
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Architecture & Core Performance
Built on TSMC’s 3 nm node, the chipset sports Qualcomm’s first in‑house Oryon CPU cores (2× Prime @4.32 GHz + 6× Performance @3.53 GHz) .
Geekbench 6 scores range from ≈3,033–3,242 single-core and 9,271–10,521 multi-core—outpacing all Android chips and even challenging the Apple A18 Pro in multi-core workloads .
Power usage is notable: ~16–18 W in multi-core stress tests—higher than Apple, trading efficiency for brute performance .
GPU & Graphics Enhancement
Features the Adreno 830 GPU with a new “sliced” architecture, boosting graphics performance by ~40% over Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 .
3DMark Wild Life Extreme loop scores ~6,311, stability ~83%, and Solar Bay scores confirm strong ray-tracing support (~10,614) .
Real-world gaming benefits from Unreal Engine 5.3 support, HDR 10-bit, and up to 240 Hz display capability .
AI & Imaging Pipeline
The AI ISP (formerly Spectra) integrates tightly with the Hexagon NPU for real-time enhancements: triple 48 MP camera captures, 320 MP snapshots, semantic segmentation, and video re-lighting .
On-device LLM support: early testing shows ~20 tokens/sec on CPU fallback; optimized NNAPI/GPU modes expected as drivers mature .
Connectivity
Integrates Snapdragon X80 5G modem: up to 10 Gbps download, 3.5 Gbps upload, Release‑17/18 support.
First chip to embed Wi‑Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, and UWB within the FastConnect 7900 suite—eliminating need for discrete radios.
Thermals & Throttling
Outstanding sustained performance: CPU and GPU maintain ~75–80% of peak under stress, with thermals around 33–43 °C.
But power draw and heat are on the higher side—users report thermal throttling in long gaming sessions unless robust cooling (vapor chambers, active vents) is used .
Real-World Deployments
Early flagship phones include Samsung Galaxy S25 series, Xiaomi 15, OnePlus 13, iQOO 13, and Motorola Razr Ultra 2025, all offering top-tier specs and performance .
Xiaomi confirms Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 successor launching late 2025 with further improvements—stay tuned .
Conclusion
The Snapdragon 8 Elite is Qualcomm’s most powerful mobile platform yet:
CPU: industry-leading multi-core computing.
GPU: major uplift for gaming and graphics.
AI & Imaging: advanced on-device capabilities.
Connectivity: fastest wireless tech integrated.
Caveats: higher heat/power demands—best paired with top-tier cooling and big batteries.
Gamers & power users who want sustained, top-tier performance.
Mobile videographers and photographers using AI-imaging features.
Tech enthusiasts adopting UWB, Wi‑Fi 7, and advanced connectivity.
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