During the launch of the top-tier Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, Qualcomm announced it was working on a non-elite version of the chipset. The company hasn’t shared much about the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, but a new leak reveals most of the important details about it.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 to share a lot with its Elite sibling
Just like Qualcomm’s top-tier chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 may be built on TSMC’s N3P 3nm process and feature custom Oryon CPU cores in a 2+6 configuration. According to a leak (source in Chinese) from Digital Chat Station, the chip will have two Prime cores at 3.8GHz and six Performance cores at 3.32GHz. Those are significantly slower clock speeds than the Elite chip.Qualcomm has previously suggested it’ll use a different GPU, but the leak claims that won’t be the case. Instead, there’ll be a scaled-down version of the Adreno 840 with the same image processing and GPU architecture. That could lead to lower GPU performance.
Not quite a flagship chipset
The OnePlus 6 Ace was rumored to feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, but it was launched with the 8 Elite Gen 5. | Image credit – OnePlus
Considering those details, the new chipset will certainly be positioned under the Snapdragon 8 Elite. However, it could serve as the successor of the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 or fall between that chip and the Elite. In either case, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 is unlikely to power top-tier Android phones.
There’s no release date for the new chip yet, nor any specifics about which phones it could launch with. OnePlus has mentioned it’ll be the first brand to launch a device with it, but the OnePlus Ace 6 was launched with the Elite version. It is still possible that its global version, likely called OnePlus 15R, uses the 8 Gen 5. Digital Chat Station also hints that the China-only Vivo S50 Pro could use it.
Chips are tough
I believe most people don’t pay too much attention to the chip inside their phones, but that’s not an excuse to make things overly complicated. At the end of the day, the new chip will likely feel like a flagship to most users, and they may choose it because of the more affordable phones that will use it.
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Ilia, a tech journalist at PhoneArena, has been covering the mobile industry since 2011, with experience at outlets like Forbes Bulgaria. Passionate about smartphones, tablets, and consumer tech, he blends deep industry knowledge with a personal fascination that began with his first Nokia and Sony Ericsson devices. Originally from Bulgaria and now based in Lima, Peru, Ilia balances his tech obsessions with walking his dog, training at the gym, and slowly mastering Spanish.
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