Qualcomm intros Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5: up to 4.6Hz boost, dubbed fastest mobile CPU

Qualcomm has finally unveiled its new flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile processor, something that it claims is the "fastest mobile CPU in the world".

The new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip features third-generation Oryon CPU cores with higher single- and multi-core performance with up to 18 cores at the ready, as well as a beefed-up Adreno GPU and Hexagon NPU, and plenty more under the hood. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 CPU features two prime cores at up to 4.6GHz and six performance cores at up to 3.62GHz.

Qualcomm says there's up to 35% better power efficiency from the CPU that delivers 15% more performance in overall SOC efficiency. The upgraded Adreno GPU has up to 23% more performance in gaming, as well as a 20% reduction in power consumption, while on the AI side of things the updated Hexagon NPU has 37% more performance as well as increased efficiency over its predecessor.

• Read more: Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X2 Elite, Elite Extreme SoC: up to 5.0GHz with up to 18 cores
• Read more: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen5 perf teased: 4.74GHz CPU clocks on Samsung Galaxy S26 Edge

The upgraded Adreno 840 GPU is paired with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor in a "sliced" architecture, first introduced by Qualcomm in the Snapdragon 8 Elite. The GPU now features 18MB of dedicated cache for developers to tap into, with Qualcomm dubbing it the Adreno High Performance Memory, consuming up to 10% less power, too.

Qualcomm says it has partnered with game developers like Tencent, who can optimize their titles for the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 platform. The Adreno 840 has a maximum GPU clock of 1.20GHz, up 100MHz from the Adreno 830, while Qualcomm says that the upgraded GPU will feature up to 23% more performance, up to 20% more power efficiency, and "out of the box" support for Unreal Engine 5.

Inside, the company uses its in-house Snapdragon X85 5G modem which Qualcomm says is good for up to 12.5Gbps downlink speeds, and up to 3.7GHz uplink speeds, with the new baseband chip also more power efficient, and features improved location accuracy.

Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor continues on with the inclusion of the FastConnect 7900 suite which encompasses all of the Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, and UWB technologies into the single package. Qualcomm compares its new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor against the Snapdragon 8 Elite, saying that the new implementation uses 40% less power.

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Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor features support for 4K 120FPS video with 1080p 480FPS slow motion video, and it'll snap 320-megapixel still images to boot. The new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor is also made for vlogging, where it supports the Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec for video capture, matching the Apple ProRes format for iPhones.

We can expect Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor to power next-gen 2026 smartphones including the Samsung Galaxy S26 family and Xiaomi 17 smartphones.