Qualcomm introduced its top-tier Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip back in November, and at the time, the company said a more affordable version was coming soon.
That new chip is now official. It offers slightly lower performance than the Elite model but keeps most of the same main features.
Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 delivers a big jump in performance compared to 2023’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The CPU is said to be 36 percent faster, and the GPU gets an 11 percent boost, along with better efficiency. However, the 8 Gen 3 is now two years old and uses a different CPU design, so the newer 8 Elite Gen 5 is a much more relevant comparison.
The 8 Gen 5 uses the same Oryon CPU layout as the Elite version, but the cores run at lower speeds. Its six performance cores top out at 3.32GHz, and its two prime cores reach up to 3.8GHz. In the Elite chip, those speeds climb to 3.62GHz and 4.6GHz. On paper, this means the regular 8 Gen 5 will perform below last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite, but real-world results will depend on the phones that use it.
There are a few other compromises. The X80 modem in the 8 Gen 5 has slightly slower peak 5G speeds than the Elite model, although Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities remain the same, and the chip still supports satellite connectivity and UWB. The Adreno GPU and Hexagon NPU have also been trimmed back a bit, though Qualcomm has not shared specific comparisons. It also lacks the newest UFS 4.1 storage support. Despite that, most other features remain identical between the two chips, including charging performance, display support, and nearly all camera features.
Qualcomm says several companies, including Motorola, OnePlus, and Vivo, plan to use the new chip soon. The first phones powered by the 8 Gen 5 are expected to arrive in the coming weeks. One of them could be the OnePlus 15R, which is now confirmed to launch in the US on December 17.
If this article helped you, please consider supporting our work. Every small contribution keeps Abijita.com independent and running.
