Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon 8 Elite with all-big cores design to rival Dimensity 9400

The 8 Elite is also the company’s first smartphone SoC to feature all-big cores, putting it on par with its arch-rival MediaTek. Its eight-core processor includes 2x prime cores clocked at an impressive 4.32 GHz, along with 6x performance cores reaching up to 3.53 GHz.

This is paired with an industry-leading 24MB L2 cache and support for the speedy 5,300MHz LPDDR5X RAM, promising a robust foundation for demanding tasks.

Built on TSMC’s cutting-edge 3nm process, the 8 Elite promises significant performance gains over its predecessor. Qualcomm claims a 45% increase in CPU performance and a 44% boost in power efficiency.

Gamers will be particularly interested in the revamped Adreno GPU, which delivers a 40% uplift in both performance, power efficiency and 35% faster ray tracing performance. 

Qualcomm says this efficiency can extend gaming sessions by up to 2.5 hours. Additionally, the 8 Elite is the first Qualcomm SoC to support Unreal Engine 5.3 and its Nanite virtualized geometry system.

AI remains a core focus for Qualcomm, and the 8 Elite is no exception. The new Hexagon neural processing unit (NPU) promises a 45% increase in AI processing speed while maintaining impressive performance per watt. 

The chip also features Qualcomm’s AI Engine with multimodal Gen AI support, allowing for the execution of both large and small AI models. This flexibility offers developers more opportunities to integrate a wider range of AI-powered features into smartphones.

Mobile photography enthusiasts have something to look forward to as well. The 8 Elite replaces its long-standing Spectra ISP with a new AI ISP. This isn’t just a rebranding—Qualcomm says the AI ISP now works closely with the Hexagon NPU, accessing raw camera data to make real-time AI adjustments at 4K/60fps.

Additionally, Qualcomm has added chip-level photo and video semantic segmentation, along with video object eraser functionality for more advanced image and video editing capabilities on mobile devices.

The upgraded ISP also offers a significant throughput boost and can handle up to 4.3 gigapixels per second compared to the previous generation’s 3.2 gigapixels per second. Combined with together AI integration, this enables features like simultaneous recording from three 48MP cameras, “unlimited” segmentation for photos and videos (up to 250 layers), real-time skin and sky adjustments, improved video object erasing, and real-time video re-lighting.

On the photography side, the Snapdragon 8 Elite offers support for triple 48MP cameras, a single 108MP camera at 30fps, and a staggering 320MP snapshot support.

In terms of connectivity, the 8 Elite comes with the Snapdragon X80 5G modem, the first to support 6x downlink carrier aggregation and AI-powered mmWave range extension. Qualcomm claims peak download speeds of 10 Gbps and a theoretical maximum upload speed of 3.5 Gbps for this new modem.

The Snapdragon X80 is paired with the FastConnect 7900 Mobile Connectivity System. Notably, Qualcomm has combined Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and UWB into a single 6nm chip for the first time in the industry. It supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and Ultra Wideband (UWB) connectivity.