Qualcomm Launches Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

After MediaTek's Dimensity 9500 launch last week, Qualcomm has announced its next flagship mobile platform — the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, built on TSMC's 3nm process. This new platform places a strong focus on personalized AI assistants, with brands like HONOR, OPPO, vivo, and Xiaomi set to roll out smartphones powered by it soon.

Qualcomm highlights that the Snapdragon 8 series brings a truly personal AI agent capable of working seamlessly across apps to perform tailored tasks. With continuous on-device learning and real-time contextual awareness, its multimodal AI models can understand user behavior, offer proactive suggestions, and adapt intelligently — while keeping all data securely on the device.

For creators, the Snapdragon 8 Elite becomes the world's first mobile platform to support APV (Advanced Professional Video) encoding, enabling professional-grade video recording and advanced post-production controls. Driven by next-gen AI-powered camera capabilities, it lets users achieve studio-quality imaging right from their phones.

On the performance front, Qualcomm has pushed the envelope again. The 3rd-gen Oryon CPU delivers a 20% performance boost, making it the fastest in its class. The new Adreno GPU improves graphics-intensive gaming performance by 23%, while the Hexagon NPU achieves up to a 37% uplift in AI computing power.

Chris Patrick, Senior VP and GM of Qualcomm's Mobile Handset Business, described the launch as a leap forward in mobile AI: "Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 gives users full control of their mobile experience with an AI assistant that can see, hear, and think alongside you — redefining what personal AI can do."

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 will debut in upcoming flagship devices from major global brands, including HONOR, iQOO, Nubia, OnePlus, OPPO, POCO, realme, Redmi, RedMagic, ROG, Samsung, Sony, vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE, with launches starting in the coming weeks.