Snapdragon 8 Elite is Qualcomm’s first smartphone chip with Oryon CPU cores
by Brad Linder · LiliputingThis year Qualcomm launched its first laptop processors that are truly competitive with the latest Intel and AMD chips, thanks to the company’s new Oryon CPU architecture that’s based on technology developed by Nubia – a company that Qualcomm acquired more than three years ago.
Now Qualcomm is bringing Oryon to smartphones and tablets. The new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor is set to bring a huge boost in performance and efficiency to mobile devices.
Qualcomm’s new chip features new architecture for both its Prime and Performance CPU cores: the Snapdragon 8 Elite has two Prime CPU cores with support for speeds up to 4.32 GHz and six Performance cores that top out at 3.53 GHz. The company is also promising gains in graphics and AI performance.
Compared with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, Qualcomm says the new Snapdragon 8 Elite brings:
CPU enhancements
- 45% boost in single-core performance
- 45% boost in multi-core performance
- 44% power savings
GPU enhancements
- 40% overall graphics improvement
- 35% ray tracing improvement
- 40% power savings
NPU enhancements
- 45% faster NPU
- 45% performance per watt improvement
Overall, Qualcomm says the new chip consumes about 27% less power than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 while delivering significant performance gains.
Other features include a Qualcomm Snapdragon X80 modem-RF system with 5G connectivity for download speeds up to 10 Gbps and uploads as high as 3.5 Gbps, a FastConnect 7900 wireless system with support for “AI-enhanced WiFi 7” and integrated ultra-wideband support, support for 24-bit, 96 kHz lossless audio, and support for 33 percent faster throughput.
While the new chips are based on the same architecture as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus laptop processors, keep in mind that those chips are designed for PCs with larger batteries and better cooling systems than you’ll find in most smartphones. So don’t expect a phone with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip to be able to do everything a device with a Snapdragon X chip can… or at least not as quickly or as well. But the lines between smartphone, laptop, and desktop chips continues to get blurrier all the time.
That said, Qualcomm is promising that the chips support a wide range of powerful features including phones with 4K displays (at 60 Hz) or 240 Hz displays (at QHD+ resolutions), up to 320 megapixel photo capture (or up to 4K video capture at 120 fps), and Ai-enhanced photography features including “Limitless Segmentation” that “recognizes and enhances virtually anything in the frame, including faces, hair, clothing, objects, backgrounds, and beyond.”
Some of the first devices with Snapdragon 8 Elite chips will be announced “in the coming weeks,” including models from companies including Samsung, Asus, Honor, iQOO, OnePlus, Oppo, RealMe, Vivo, and Xiaomi.