Qualcomm has officially unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, its latest high-end mobile platforms. Both chipsets use a 2nm manufacturing process, 64-bit Oryon CPU cores and new Adreno graphics and Hexagon neural processing units.

The two platforms share a CPU layout with two Prime cores reaching up to 5.0GHz and six Performance cores running at up to 4.0GHz. They also include 16MB of Oryon FlexCache, support up to 24GB of LPDDR5X or LPDDR6 memory at speeds of up to 5,300MHz, and offer UFS 5.0 storage support.

Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 performance

Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 improves CPU performance by 13% compared with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. The company also claims a 37% gain in CPU power efficiency, a 44% increase in GPU performance and a 35% improvement in NPU performance.

The Extreme model is also rated for a 33% improvement in AI performance per watt. Qualcomm’s specifications say its Hexagon NPU has 50% more shared memory than the previous-generation version, a change intended to support more demanding on-device AI workloads.

Standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 gains

The standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 delivers smaller, but still substantial, improvements over the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Qualcomm lists a 10% CPU performance increase, a 37% improvement in CPU power efficiency, a 35% GPU uplift and a 14% gain in NPU performance.

Its AI performance per watt is up by 20%, according to Qualcomm. The standard chip retains the same two Prime and six Performance core configuration, but the Extreme version is positioned as the more capable option for demanding processing and graphics workloads.

Video recording and first phones

Video capture is another area where the new platforms differ. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 supports 8K recording at 60 frames per second and 4K slow-motion video at 240fps. The standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 supports 8K recording at 30fps and 4K slow motion at 120fps.

The Xiaomi 18 Pro lineup is scheduled to launch later today as the first series to use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. Motorola has confirmed that its Signature 27 will use the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, while the OnePlus 16 is confirmed to use the Extreme version.

The announcements give phone makers two new flagship platforms with faster CPU cores, updated graphics and expanded support for on-device AI. Actual phone performance and battery life will depend on how manufacturers configure cooling, software and power limits.