Somehow, year after year, smartphone chips get more powerful. It’s more of a testament to the way that technology will always progress, and less of a testament to increasing consumer needs, since most people I know—including those who use flagships—don’t take advantage of even half of the power that their devices have to offer.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite is the current king of smartphone chips, and despite the overwhelming amount of power it possesses, its sequel is expected to be even more powerful. That sequel, tentatively named the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, will come in the second half of the year, and we now have an exact date for it. It is earlier than expected.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 Will Be Revealed at Snapdragon Summit in Late September
Qualcomm is the undisputed king of smartphone chips. MediaTek is doing a good job chasing after them, but there is still a clear winner, and for the current generation, that’s the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Even the Dimensity 9400+, a mid-cycle SoC from MediaTek, still has some space left to climb. The Snapdragon 8 Elite might be extremely capable, but its successor will be even more so.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is expected to arrive in the second half of this year and will be more powerful than the current top model. It’s bound to be the hot chip for OEMs making flagships later this year. The good news of today is that we have an exact idea of when the new chip is going to be unveiled.
Qualcomm always unveils its new chips at Snapdragon Summit, and it has been made official that the event will take place between September 23rd and September 25th this year. While that’s still a little way off, it is also a full month earlier than the Snapdragon 8 Elite was released last year. In fact, it is earlier than most Snapdragon Summits, historically speaking.
| Qualcomm Chip | Date |
| Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 | September 23rd-25th, 2025 |
| Snapdragon 8 Elite | October 21st, 2024 |
| Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 | October 24th, 2023 |
| Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 | November 15th, 2022 |
| Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 | December 1st, 2021 |
An Earlier Release Date Should Give More Flagships Access to This New Chip
A lot of flagship phones are released in October, particularly those coming from Chinese manufacturers. Last year, several of them had their releases packed into the last stretch of October.
This time around, with a late September launch, these devices will be able to spread out a lot more reasonably. It will also allow more flagships to use this new chip if they decide not to side with MediaTek.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 Is Expected to Be a Killer Smartphone Chip
The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 will find it hard to be insanely more powerful than its already powerful originator, but it will still push the envelope, regardless. It will push to a base frequency of 4.4GHz, which is over 0.1GHz higher than its predecessor. That’s wild.
The CPU architecture is also expected to be new and improved. We expect to see the following phones launch with the chip:
- Xiaomi 16 series (likely first in line)
- OnePlus 14
- Realme GT 8 Pro
- iQOO 14
- Redmi K90 Pro
