Qualcomm announces the Snapdragon 8 Elite with Oryon CPU

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Several leaks and rumors have been hyping up Qualcomm’s upcoming flagship processor, which was supposed to be named the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. Occasionally, even Qualcomm chimed in, hyping up the reveal. 

Now, the company has officially unveiled its new flagship mobile processor, the Snapdragon 8 Elite, with a custom Oryon CPU, at the Snapdragon Summit. 

As usual, the new processor is expected to be used in multiple new Android flagships. The first likely contenders are the OnePlus 13, ASUS ROG Phone 9, HONOR Magic 7 series, and others, like iQOO, Samsung, OPPO, and more.

The new Snapdragon 8 Elite is a major performance leap for Android phones 

If you aren’t aware, Qualcomm debuted the Oryon CPU to PCs last year. It used the Elite moniker for its processor, and the company used the same naming convention to mark its introduction to the Android phones. 

Hence, it’s the Snapdragon 8 “Elite” instead of the Snapdragon 8 Gen X, which in this case would’ve been the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4.

Qualcomm’s new mobile processor is a powerhouse. The chip manufacturer has used TSMC’s 3nm process to develop the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which sports a second-generation Oryon CPU optimized for mobile. 

Qualcomm has finally ditched those efficiency cores. The new processor sports two custom-designed Prime (4.32 GHz) and six custom-designed Performance (3.53 GHz) cores. 

	Snapdragon 8 Elite	Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
Development Process	TSMC 3nm	TSMC 4nm (N4P)
CPU Configuration	2x 4.32GHz (Oryon) 6x 3.53GHz (Oryon)	1x 3.3GHz (Cortex-X4) 3x 3.2GHz (Cortex-A720) 2x 3GHz (Cortex-A720) 2x 2.3GHz (Cortex-A520 Refresh)
GPU	Adreno (ray tracing support)	Adreno (ray tracing support)
DSP	Hexagon (fused scalar, tensor, and vector) Mixed precision INT8/INT16 INT4 support	Hexagon (fused scalar, tensor, and vector) Mixed precision INT8/INT16 INT4 support
RAM Support	LPDDR5X	Networking (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and others)
4G/5G Modem	X80 LTE/5G (integrated) 10,000Mbps down 3,500Mbps up NB-NTN (satellite) support	X75 LTE/5G (integrated) 10,000Mbps down 3,500Mbps up
Charging	Quick Charge 5	Quick Charge 5
Camera Support	• 200MP single shot • 108MP single with zero shutter lag • 64MP+36MP with zero shutter lag • Triple 36MP with zero shutter lag • Hybrid AF • 10-bit HEIF image capture • HDR video • Dolby HDR photo • Multi-frame noise reduction • Real-time semantic segmentation for photos and videos (up to 12 layers) • Video super-resolution	• 200MP single shot • 108MP single with zero shutter lag • 64MP+36MP with zero shutter lag • Triple 36MP with zero shutter lag • Hybrid AF • 10-bit HEIF image capture • HDR video • Dolby HDR photo • Multi-frame noise reduction • Real-time semantic segmentation for photos and videos (up to 12 layers) • Video super resolution
Video Capture	8K @ 60fps (HDR) 4K UHD @ 120fps	8K @ 30fps (HDR) 4K UHD @ 120fps
Networking (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and others)	Bluetooth 6.0 Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi 6/6E (802.11ax), Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) 802.11a/b/g/n	Bluetooth 5.4 Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi 6/6E (802.11ax), Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) 802.11a/b/g/n

Here’s the catch. The Prime cores are optimized for single-threaded tasks, while the Performance cores are for multi-threaded tasks. 

The new mobile processor also offers a whopping 12MB of L2 cache for each core cluster. In terms of gains, the new CPU is 44% more efficient than its predecessor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Qualcomm also claims a 45% boost to single-core and multi-core performance.

So, on paper, these are all impressive. We just need to wait for the benchmarks to prove that this is the flagship mobile processor we have all been waiting for.

Let’s not forget about the GPU boost and AI of it all 

While Snapdragon 8 Elite’s CPU is the main highlight, the GPU has also gained significant upgrades. 

The company has switched to the new sliced architecture, enabling a more flexible resource allocation.

Regarding the improvements, the company claims 40% faster performance, 40% power savings, 35% faster ray tracing performance, and a 27% increase in overall power saving, which the company claims can result in 2.5 hours longer gaming sessions. 

The company claims its AI Engine uses CPU, GPU, NPU, memory, and Sensing Hub, and Oryon handles all the heavy lifting. Meanwhile, the Hexagon NPU is 45% faster and has 45% improved performance per watt. 

Qualcomm calls the deeply integrated NPU the “AI ISP” for features like on-device 30FPS Video Object Erasure and capturing “vivid” 4K60 videos in “near darkness.

In addition, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite supports up to 24GB LP-DDR5x. The on-device display support remains unchanged with 4K @ 60Hz, but QHD+ @ 240 (from 144) Hz is now possible.

What are your thoughts on this bold new direction for Qualcomm’s flagship chips? Are you looking forward to the next generation of Android phones powered by these chips? Let’s chat below in the comments, or reach out to us via our Twitter or Facebook.