Qualcomm’s New Chips Power AI and 8K Video for Top Android Phones — and They’re Coming Soon
The tech industry is accelerating its AI race, and that includes the phones in your pocket. Qualcomm has new chips that will power the most premium upcoming Android devices, some of which are coming out now.
At Snapdragon Summit 2026 in Maui, Hawaii, Qualcomm revealed its next phone chips with upgrades to improve AI features. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is the newest best-of-the-best chip, and slightly below that is the similarly named (but not extreme) Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, which supersedes last year’s top-end Qualcomm mobile silicon. Both are built on a 2nm process node for faster processing and better efficiency.
We won’t have to wait long to see these chips in action. At the summit on Tuesday, Xiaomi and Motorola both debuted new phones powered by the chips. The Motorola Signature 27, which will be released later this year, features the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip, which powers a four-camera suite including a 50-megapixel main camera and a 200-megapixel periscope telephoto shooter, as well as Google’s Gemini AI.
Like their predecessors, these new chips can power AI agents to handle complex tasks in the background, answer queries across multiple apps and anticipate needs. The goal is to deliver faster, more responsive AI experiences, Qualcomm said in a briefing ahead of the announcement.
Why make two chips at the very top end? Qualcomm says it’s to give phone-makers more options. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 succeeds last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 with top performance; the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is a step above, a new, even higher category of chip, distinguished by its greater capability to run AI agents. This includes supporting 30-billion-plus parameter AI models, better video capabilities and “significantly enhanced on-device AI performance,” according to Qualcomm.
The 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 offers additional perks over the 8 Elite Gen 6, including AI-dedicated matrix cores in its Adreno GPU, as well as AI graphics features such as upscaling and frame generation for higher frame rates, much like powerful console and PC GPUs. The 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6’s AI capabilities are powered by an expanded Hexagon NPU with an improved 16MB of FlexCache shared memory, which is 50% larger than its predecessor’s, to quickly store and retrieve data without waiting for information to be fetched from RAM. For phone cameras, the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 supports the AI-enhanced Advanced Professional Video codec, as well as shooting in 8K at 60 frames per second and 4K at 240 fps for slow-motion.
By the numbers, the chips break down like this — compared to last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5:
- The 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 has 13% improved CPU performance, while the 8 Elite Gen 6 has 10%.
- Graphics-processing-wise, the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 has 44% improved GPU performance, while the 8 Elite Gen 6 has 37%.
- For AI, the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 has 35% improved NPU performance, while the 8 Elite Gen 6 has 14%.
- Both chips are in a dead heat on improved CPU (37%) and GPU (40%) power efficiency, but the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 has the edge in AI performance-per-watt (33%) compared to the 8 Elite Gen 6 (20%).
The latest-generation Qualcomm-designed Oryon CPU in both chips tops out at 5GHz — the world’s first mobile chip to do so, the company says. This performance improvement should boost all-around processing, game and camera performance.
The redesigned sensing hub, which tracks voice and other sensor data in the background before spinning up the more powerful processors, now has dual micro neural processing units that are capable of 85% more performance and 20% greater efficiency.
The chips also pack a new version of the series’ sound chip called the Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2, which has double the AI performance and uses up to 40% less power, Qualcomm said. Separately, the company is debuting a line of apps and agents for devices that support Snapdragon Sound software.
Editors’ note: David Lumb’s travel costs were covered by Qualcomm. The judgments and opinions of CNET are our own.
Managing Editor, Mobile
David Lumb is a managing editor for the mobile team, covering mobile and gaming spaces. Before CNET, he covered tech, gaming, and culture for TechRadar, Engadget, Popular Mechanics, NBC Asian America, Increment, Fast Company and others. As a true Californian, he lives for coffee, beaches and burritos. See full bio
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