The introduction of Snapdragon 8 Elite turned out to a pivotal moment in Qualcomm’s history, as it saw the return of custom CPU cores after a decade. Combined with the node shift to 3nm, the 8 Elite delivered massive gains across the board, and it continues to be one of the fastest mobile platforms available today.
Qualcomm isn’t sitting idly by either — the chip vendor is pushing up the launch of this year’s flagship, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2. That is a big deal in itself, as it allows device makers to launch phones and tablets based on the chipset sooner than ever before. This is what we know about the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, and when it will make its debut.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite 2: CPU
Qualcomm went back to using custom cores with the Snapdragon 8 Elite, and the 8 Elite 2 is set to build on this foundation. It will use a similar design that should see two performance cores alongside six mid-size cores, and it is also likely to be fabricated on the 3nm node.
What’s interesting is that a new leak out of China details the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2’s Geekbench scores, and with a single-core score of over 4,000 and multi-core going over 11,000, it has a significant boost over the 8 Elite. To put that into context, the maximum I got in Geekbench with the Snapdragon 8 Elite is 3,190 in single-core and 9,957 in multi-core results.
Essentially, Qualcomm is targeting an increase of up to 30% in single-core workloads, and up to 12% in multi-core scenarios. That’s a huge deal considering the sheer performance differential between the Snapdragon 8 Elite and 8 Gen 3, and it’s exciting to see the chip vendor able to deliver these kind of gains for the second year in a row.
Of course, these details are based on a leak, so we will need to wait and see how the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 holds up in real-world testing.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite 2: Gaming
The Snapdragon 8 Elite is a gaming powerhouse, and it has a significantly higher overhead when it comes to playing demanding titles. I didn’t see any issues getting stable framerates even with all the settings turned up, and if anything, the gaming ecosystem on Android is the bottleneck — we need console-quality titles like iOS.
While we don’t know what changes Qualcomm is making to Adreno this year, the one thing I’d like to see is better thermal thresholds. The Snapdragon 8 Elite tends to run hotter than earlier versions, and that means resultant devices overheat even with sizeable thermal management solutions. Qualcomm needs to do a better job setting thermal boundaries on the 8 Elite 2 to ensure this isn’t an issue on 2026 flagships.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite 2: Launch date
Qualcomm has confirmed that it is accelerating the launch window of the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2. The chipset will be showcased at the chip vendor’s annual Snapdragon Summit, being held on September 23. Qualcomm usually holds its launch event sometime in Q4, with the initial wave of devices featuring its latest chipset debuting in Q1.
Clearly, it wants to change that dynamic, and by launching the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 early, it will be able to position it better alongside the upcoming A19 — which will also be announced at a similar time.
While there’s plenty we don’t know about the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 — including changes to the camera and connectivity — we should get those details over the coming weeks, and I’ll update this post accordingly.
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