Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 vs Snapdragon 8 Gen 5
This year’s flagship against last year’s value flagship
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6
2nm · Sep 2026
Snapdragon 8 Gen 5
3nm · Nov 2025
VS
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 Single
No score yet
Geekbench 6 Single
2,749
Geekbench 6 Multi
No score yet
Geekbench 6 Multi
9,860
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
No score yet
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
1,832
No scores have been published for the standard 8 Elite Gen 6. 8 Gen 5 scores are from retail phones (OnePlus 15R for 3DMark). We will update the scores once we have them.
Specification
8 Elite Gen 6Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 68 Gen 5Snapdragon 8 Gen 5At A Glance
Vendor
Qualcomm
Qualcomm
Announced
Sep 2026
Nov 2025
Process node
2nm
3nm
Part number
SM8950
SM8845
CPU
Layout
2 prime + 6 performance
Performance cores up to 4.0GHz
2 prime + 6 performance
Performance cores up to 3.32GHz
Cores
Oryon
Custom-built, 64-bit
Oryon
Custom-built
Peak clock
5.0GHz
3.8GHz
L2 cache
16MB
Oryon Flex Cache
4MB + 12MB
Prime and performance clusters
GPU and gaming
GPU
Adreno
Matrix cores, Adreno HPM
Adreno
Sliced architecture
Ray tracing
Hardware
Lumen global illumination
Hardware
Global illumination
Graphics APIs
Vulkan 1.4, OpenGL ES 3.2
OpenCL 3.0 FP
Vulkan 1.3, OpenGL ES 3.2
OpenCL 3.0 FP
Notable
Unreal Engine 5
Nanite, Tile Memory Heap
Mesh shading
Up to 165 FPS, Frame Motion Engine 2.1
AI and NPU
NPU
Hexagon
Reengineered, new Element Accelerator
Hexagon
Fused AI accelerator
Design
12S + 8V + 1T + 1E
Scalar, vector, tensor, element
6S + 8V + 1A
Scalar, vector, accelerator
Gen-on-gen
14% faster
20% better per watt, vs 8 Elite Gen 5
46% faster
vs 8 Gen 3
Precision
INT2 to FP16
INT2, INT4, INT8, INT16, FP8, FP16
INT2 to FP16
INT2, INT4, INT8, INT16, FP8, FP16
Always-on
Sensing Hub
Dual micro NPUs
Sensing Hub
Dual micro NPUs
Memory and storage
Memory
LPDDR5X and LPDDR6
Up to 24GB
LPDDR5X
Up to 24GB
Memory speed
5300MHz
4800MHz
Storage
UFS 5.0
UFS 4.1
Camera and ISP
ISP
Spectra
Triple AI ISP
Spectra
Triple AI ISP
ISP bit depth
20-bit
20-bit
Max sensor
320MP
320MP
Triple camera
64 + 64 + 64MP
Zero shutter lag
48 + 48 + 48MP
Zero shutter lag
Video capture
8K30
4K120
Slow motion
4K120
1080p960
1080p480
Display and video
On-device display
4K+ 120Hz
QHD+ 240Hz
4K+ 120Hz
QHD+ 240Hz
External display
4K 120Hz
8K 30Hz
4K 120Hz
8K 30Hz
HDR
Dolby Vision, HDR10+
HDR10, HDR Vivid
Dolby Vision, HDR10+
HDR10, HDR Vivid
Video decode
H.265, AV1, VP9
H.265, AV1, VP9
8K30 HDR playback
Video encode
Not listed
HEVC
10-bit
Cellular
Modem
X105 5G
X80 5G
3GPP release
Release 19
Release 18
mmWave
Supported
8 carriers, 2x2 MIMO
Supported
8 carriers, 2x2 MIMO
Peak download
14.8Gbps
6xCA, 500MHz
10Gbps
6xCA
Peak upload
4.2Gbps
3.5Gbps
Uplink MIMO
UL 4-layer CA
200MHz, switched uplink
Switched uplink
TDD and FDD
SIM
Turbo DSDA
3CC + 1CC
DSDA Gen 2
Dual data
Satellite
NR-NTN and NB-NTN
NB-NTN
Modem power saving
5G PowerSave
5G PowerSave Gen 5
Wi-Fi and connectivity
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi 8
FastConnect 8800
Wi-Fi 7
FastConnect 7900
Wi-Fi peak
11.6Gbps
5.8Gbps
Wi-Fi notable
4x4 system
HBS multi-link, 3x gigabit range
4K QAM
320MHz, HBS multi-link
Bluetooth
6.0
LE Audio, HDT, Channel Sounding
6.0
LE Audio, Channel Sounding
UWB
Supported
FiRa, CCC, Aliro 1.0
Supported
FiRa, CCC
Navigation
Triple-band GNSS
GPS, BeiDou, Galileo, NavIC
Triple-band GNSS
GPS, BeiDou, Galileo, NavIC
USB
USB 3.1 Gen 2
USB 3.1 Gen 2
Charging
Quick Charge 5
Quick Charge 5
Security
3D Sonic Max
SPU, TEE, hypervisor
3D Sonic Max
TEE, hypervisor
Audio
Audio platform
Snapdragon Sound
Snapdragon Sound
Wireless codecs
aptX Lossless
aptX Adaptive, XPAN
aptX Lossless
aptX Adaptive, XPAN
Audio codec
Aqstic
Smart speaker amplifier, Speaker Max
Aqstic Speaker Max
-108dB THD+N playback
Specifications from the manufacturers’ official spec sheets · Updated 2026-09-23