Qualcomm broke tradition in 2024 by naming its latest flagship chip the Snapdragon 8 Elite instead of continuing with the expected Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 naming pattern. Hypothetically, that shift would mean the next one should be called Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2. But the company hasn’t confirmed anything yet. Still, leaks are already pointing toward that name, even though an official launch is months away. But if they stick to their usual schedule, they should launch it by October.
Related: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite is built for the next generation
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 leak promises huge gains
As is Weibo’s reputation for being a major source of China-based tech leaks, another one has recently surfaced on the platform. Popular personality on the website Digital Chat Station says the surfacing report is based on “first-hand technical information”. That points to details coming directly from someone close to the development process.
Regardless, the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 may introduce a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) independent cache going from 12MB to 16MB. That might sound like a small improvement, but it’s actually major for real-world performance. GPU caches are quick-access memory for the graphics processor. The more of it you have, the less the GPU needs to rely on slower system memory.
There’s also the mention of early setting performance increasing by roughly 30%, which basically refers to how well the chip performs in early internal benchmarks. It’s not finalized yet, but even at this stage, a 30% jump is still massive. For comparison, typical year-over-year improvements hover around 10–15%.
But the most interesting thing about the second-generation Elite chip is the self-developed CPU architecture. Qualcomm has usually relied on ARM’s reference cores, but they’ve started developing their own in-house designs the way Apple does with its M-series chips.
According to the leak, that second-gen custom CPU is showing a 25% improvement in performance. It would impact everything from app launch speed to background task management and even battery efficiency. In short, faster and more durable phones.
Related: A Snapdragon 8s Elite Is Coming; New Choice For Budget Power
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 is already in the testing phase
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 will likely be based on a third-gen 3 nanometer process and support the latest LPDDR5X and LPDDR6 RAM technologies. If we’re not mistaken, it’s the same process Apple is using on their A16 chip. Also, LPDDR5X RAM is already used in the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the S25 phone series, courtesy of Micron. It offers quick data transfer speeds up to 8533 Mbps compared to LPDDR5.
Although LPDDR6 hasn’t been widely adopted yet, it’s expected to push speeds even higher over 10,000 Mbps. It’s ideal for future apps that depend on artificial intelligence or real-time 3D rendering. By all indications, Qualcomm is positioning itself to compete head-to-head with Apple.
There are signs that Qualcomm has begun actual device testing for the new chip. Digital Chat Station mentions that a “new machine folder has been created” and the “ID direction has been determined”. Internally, companies create machine folders when a physical device prototype is in development or testing, possibly inside early engineering sample phones. With all that considered, an announcement from Qualcomm is not that far away.
