5 improvements Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip is bringing to Android phones

The first smartphones with Qualcomm’s new mobile chip are launching as soon as next week.

Months after unveiling the Snapdragon X Elite Plus and Snapdragon X Plus, its successful Arm-based processors for laptops, Qualcomm is trying to extend its momentum with the launch of its similarly-named chip for smartphones.

At the recent Qualcomm summit in Hawaii, the company unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Elite, the successor to its mobile processor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite System on a Chip, which will consist of a second-generation Oryon central processing unit (CPU), Andreno graphics processing unit (GPU), and Hexagon neural processing unit (NPU) for AI tasks, promises 40-50% improved speed and efficiency over the previous generation.

The new chip will power some of the best Android flagships of this and next year. In the coming weeks, we’ll see a handful of Android smartphones equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, including the OnePlus 13 and flagships from Xiaomi, Realme, Vivo, Asus, and more.

Qualcomm’s new chip will upgrade smartphones with several new functions and improvements.

Here are some features the new chip will bring to Android devices, though smartphone vendors may need to implement additional solutions to take advantage of some of these advancements.

Multimodal capabilities

You may have heard a thing or two about multimodality within the context of AI this year. This refers to AI’s ability to understand written and audio inputs as well as visual inputs.

According to Alex Katouzian, Qualcomm’s Group General Manager of Mobile, Compute, XR, and Wearables Businesses, the smartphone assistant is already multimodal and agentic, meaning it can handle your personal needs without needing to prompt other apps.

During the summit keynote, Qualcomm demonstrated the multimodal capabilities of its chip by showing a video of people taking a picture of a bill with a smartphone camera and asking a virtual assistant to split it and leave a 20% tip.

Thanks to the 45% faster Hehagon NPU, the chip will be able to perform more time-saving tasks, such as translating, converting currency, and more.

All of these features can be done entirely on the device.

Taking pictures of your pets

The chip plays a critical role in determining the overall performance and capabilities of smartphone cameras. Qualcomm promises several improvements with the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

According to Katouzian, the throughput of an AI Image Signal Processor (ISP), a specialized part of a chipset that processes images and videos, is increased by nearly 33%, while power efficiency is increased by nearly 25%.

Now, it will be deeply integrated with NPU, resulting in improved HDR, more natural-looking skin tone, and sky colors.

In addition, the chip will enable new pet photography features.

“New photography features wil be powered by NPU. Your smartphone will use autofocus to check your pet's eyes, so no matter how quickly they move, photos will be sharp and in focus,” explained a Qualcomm representative during the summit.

When you take a picture of a pet, your smartphone will take a burst of images. Then, the Hexagon NPU will pick the best ones, such as those where a pet is looking at the camera.

Thanks to the new chip, various Android smartphone vendors will also be able to implement on-device editing tools similar to Google’s Magic Eraser.

Faster browsing

During the summit keynote, Katouzian highlighted several massive improvements that the Oryon CPU makes over the Snapdragon Gen3.

Now, it will be 44% more power efficient, and in benchmarks, it scores 45% more in both single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. Qualcomm says that Oryon, with 4.32 GHz peak CPU speeds, is the fastest CPU in the world.

Of course, all of these double-digit percentages will translate into faster performance in all areas. During the keynote, Katouzian highlighted that the CPU will result in a 62% improvement in Chrome browsing over the previous version.

Better gaming

Snapdragon 8 Elite’s Adreno GPU also has significant improvements compared to the previous version.

The Adreno GPU uses sliced architecture with dedicated memory for each slice, ensuring faster, smoother performance and optimized battery life, which is crucial for power-hungry games.

According to Qualcomm, the Adreno GPU now has 40% improved performance and 40% greater power efficiency and supports 40% better Ray Tracing for gaming.

The Adreno GPU will be the first on any mobile device to support Unreal Engine 5.3 with Nanite, which Qualcomm says will produce “film-quality 3D environments for total immersion.”

Better connectivity

The Snapdragon 8 Elite promises improved connectivity, which Qualcomm says should result in better gaming on the go, faster downloads, and better data backups.

Snapdragon 8 Elite comes with the FastConnect 7900 Mobile Connectivity System, the first to combine WiFi 7, Bluetooth, and Ultra-Wideband (UWB) connectivity in a single chip.

UWB transmits data across a much broader spectrum of frequencies than WiFi and Bluetooth, allowing precise location tracking and low power consumption.

With the Snapdragon 8 Elite, Qualcomm promises 30% improved location and positioning accuracy over the previous version, even in parking structures.