Qualcomm ’s Snapdragon Summit is happening right now , and during the big opening tonic , Qualcomm revealed the next major crisp for premium Android flagships in 2025 : the Snapdragon 8 Elite .
Wait , what happened toSnapdragon 8 Gen 4 ? That ’s what we were all expecting , given the dewy-eyed name that Qualcomm ’s been using for the past several eld with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 , Gen 2 , Gen 1 , and so forth .
But no , Qualcomm adjudicate the young chip need a Modern name to really show how much of an upgrade the Snapdragon 8 Elite iscompared to premature generations . This also makes the smartphone chip match up with the company’sSnapdragon X Elitelaptop chipsets . With a little bit of context , it start to make some sensory faculty .
However , does anyone who is n’t a tech enthusiast know the name of the processors that are in their smartphones ? Does the name really matter ?
What’s in a name?
Qualcomm Snapdragon , MediaTek Dimensity , Samsung Exynos , Google Tensor , Apple A18 , Apple M4 . To a normal person , someone who does n’t trace tech tidings every twenty-four hours , would they know what any of those words mean ? I will confidently say , probably not .
These day , everyone reasonably much has a smartphone of some kind , whether it ’s aniPhoneor some kind ofAndroid phone . But ask them what processor or chip it has , and most people will in all probability give you a blank stare . Unless you are a techie , mass just do n’t really like about CPU and benchmark — the only thing that matters is whether the phone will knead well enough for what they involve it for .
While saying Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is a bit of a mouthful , it made the most sense logistically . It was easy to differentiate which was the newest adaptation since it was in numerical order . But then Qualcomm made affair a bit more complicated by branching the Snapdragon 8 serial into Plus and “ southward ” variations — most recently withthe Snapdragon 8s Gen 3announced earlier this twelvemonth .
The Snapdragon 8 Elite is a raw rebrand of the flagship chip , with a name that supposedly matches the performance . When Qualcomm showed off the chip , it state that it has zero efficiency cores . Instead , the Snapdragon 8 Elite will have six functioning cores and two select cores . For some special context , the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 has five performance cores , two efficiency cores , and one prime core — and the prime magnetic core drive home more horsepower than the performance core .
With the choice heart and soul going up to 4.32GHz and the carrying out cores time at 3.53GHz ( the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 only got up to 3.2GHz ) , the Snapdragon 8 Elite should cede 45 % better overall CPU public presentation and 44 % in force efficiency .
So , yes , though this rebranding of the Snapdragon 8 does make sentiency when you look at the performance , was it actually necessary ? After all , most people already do n’t sleep with the precise names of the chips that their pocket information processing system have , so does it really matter ? in all likelihood not . It ’s just a selling tactic for Qualcomm to apply in its press releases , and beyond us technical school diary keeper and blogger hide the news this workweek , the chances are slim to none of “ normal ” people caring or roll in the hay about it at all .
This isn’t Qualcomm’s first rebranding rodeo
Rebranding Snapdragon 8 Gen to Snapdragon 8 Elite is n’t the first clock time that Qualcomm has changed thing up . In fact , Qualcomm just rebranded the Snapdragon bit name back in 2021 , go away from various digits ( i.e. Snapdragon 888 , 870 , 480 , etc . ) to generation number . As such , it ’s a bit surprising to see Qualcomm rebrand it yet again after just three class .
It will be interesting to see what Qualcomm does with its premium flagship chip next year . Will it be “ Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 ” or something similar ? Or will it have a new word instead of Elite ? Will Qualcomm ’s next chip be another massive leap that it adjudicate to doanothermajor rebrand ? At this point , we do n’t really roll in the hay .
Rebranding to Snapdragon 8 Elite makes sense from a certain perspective . At least it is simple , unlike something likeAsus ROG Strix XG27AQDMG . But in the ending , does anyone really care about the name of the chipset in their smartphone ? So long as it ’s fast and efficient , that ’s all that really matters . And thankfully for Qualcomm , it seems like the Snapdragon 8 Elite has that in nigga . It look like a very good chip ; just one with an odd name that — for most people — ultimately does n’t matter .
