Qualcomm just launched its newest and most powerful mobile chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite. This chip is set to power the next wave of Android smartphones, including big names like the Samsung Galaxy S25 and others.

Interestingly, Qualcomm has changed its naming system again. Previously, we had the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, followed by Gen 2 and Gen 3. Now, instead of a Gen 4, we have the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

What’s in a name? Well, regardless of what they call it, this is Qualcomm’s fastest chip yet. The company brought me to their annual Snapdragon Summit to get a first-hand look at all the new features.

At the core of the Snapdragon 8 Elite is the second generation of Qualcomm’s Oryon CPU. Qualcomm is calling this the “fastest mobile CPU in the world.” The Prime cores on this CPU can hit speeds up to 4.32GHz, delivering a performance boost of around 45%. On top of that, it also brings 27% better power efficiency, which means it will use less battery while running faster.

The chip is made up of two super-fast Prime cores along with six performance cores that clock in at 3.53GHz. For years, Apple’s A-series chips have been leading in terms of raw CPU power, but it looks like Qualcomm is catching up.

Besides speed, AI is another big area where the Snapdragon 8 Elite shines. The new chip includes an upgraded Qualcomm AI Engine with support for multimodal Gen AI. This essentially means it can better understand context from different types of inputs (like audio and video) using Qualcomm’s Sensing Hub. The neural processor is also 45% faster, which could lead to much smarter features on your next phone.

However, for these AI features to really shine, phone manufacturers need to make use of them in their apps and devices. But having powerful AI capabilities built into the chip is a big step forward.

On the graphics side, the Snapdragon 8 Elite packs an improved Adreno GPU with a new sliced architecture. Each slice has its own dedicated memory, making it 40% better at handling graphics. This means mobile games will look much better, and it could even support AAA gaming through Unreal Engine 5.3—though it’s still up to game developers to bring their titles to mobile platforms.

Mobile AAA gaming has been slowly growing, but whether or not we’ll see popular console games on phones remains to be seen. At the very least, this new GPU will improve current mobile games and allow developers to build even more graphically intense ones from the ground up.

Other enhancements come in the camera department. The new Image Signal Processor (ISP) can use AI to more accurately identify faces, hair, clothing, objects, and backgrounds in photos and videos.

Overall, the Snapdragon 8 Elite represents a major leap for Qualcomm’s mobile chips. This is especially important as more smartphone makers are starting to develop their own processors—Google’s Tensor chip for Pixel phones being a prime example.

In the coming weeks, expect to see this powerful new chip in phones from brands like ASUS, Honor, OnePlus, Samsung, and Xiaomi.