{"slug": "qualcomm-announces-the-snapdragon-8-elite-gen-6-and-8-elite-extreme-gen-6", "title": "Qualcomm announces the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6", "summary": "Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, a pair of flagship 2nm chips built on an Oryon CPU with two 5GHz Prime cores and six 4GHz Performance cores, for the next generation of Android smartphones. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 delivers 10% improved CPU performance and 37% better power efficiency versus the Gen 5, while the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 gains 13% CPU performance and adds AI-dedicated Adreno matrix cores, 18 MB of High Performance Memory, and a 50% larger shared memory that supports 30B+ parameter Mixture of Experts models. Both chips pair with the Qualcomm X105 5G modem supporting 3GPP Release 19 5G Advanced, and Motorola announced the Signature 27 as the first device with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6.", "body_md": "Qualcomm today announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 to power the next generation of Android smartphones.\n\nThe big change this year is how there are a pair of chips. Qualcomm considers both to be “flagship” offerings that give “OEMs greater choice.” The Elite Gen 6 is seen as the follow-up to last year’s Elite Gen 5, while the Elite Extreme Gen 6 comes in a level higher.\n\nBoth are built on a 2nm process with an Oryon CPU that has two 5GHz Prime Cores and six 4GHz Performance cores. The 8 Elite Gen 6 offers 10% improved CPU performance and a 37% gain in power efficiency compared to the Gen 5.\n\nOn the 8 Elite Extreme, CPU performance improves by 13% compared to last generation. A global VVC (H.266) codec on the Extreme allows for more power-efficient video.\n\nA “rearchitected” Adreno GPU offers 35% improved GPU performance and 40% power efficiency improvement over the Gen 5.\n\nOn the Extreme, there are AI-dedicated Adreno matrix cores that allow for more advanced models to run. GPU performance improves 44% compared to last year. There’s also 18 MB of High Performance Memory that compared to last generation offers a 12% power improvement. For gaming, Adreno Neural Fusion uses the new GPU matrix cores for AI super-resolution and frame generation, which makes possible up to 40% power savings in supported games.\n\nThe Hexagon NPU features a new Element Accelerator for transformer workloads to benefit LLMs. There’s 14% improved NPU performance and 20% improved AI performance-per-watt with the 12 scalar + 8 vector + 1 tensor + 1 element configuration.\n\nOn the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, a 50% larger shared memory allows for 30B+ parameters Mixture of Experts (MoE) models. The aim is to reduce trips to external memory, with 35% improved NPU performance and 33% improved AI performance-per-watt.\n\nThe Spectra ISP features what Qualcomm calls Intelligent Pixel Control to understand scenes on a per-pixel level. On the Extreme, you have support for 8K60 video and 4K240 ultra HD slow-motion capture.\n\nBoth chips are paired with the Qualcomm X105 5G modem that is “newly architected” for greater downlink (10% increase) and uplink speeds. Specifically, six antennas can capture multiple data streams at once. This supports 3GPP Release 19 5G Advanced.\n\nMotorola today announced the Signature 27 with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. [More on that here](https://9to5google.com/?p=730912).\n\n*Note: Qualcomm paid for travel and accommodations for this launch event, but had no input on editorial content.*\n\n*FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.* [More.](https://9to5mac.com/about/#affiliate)\n\n[our homepage](http://9to5google.com/)for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Google on\n\n[exclusive stories](https://9to5google.com/feature/exclusive/),\n\n[reviews](https://9to5google.com/guides/reviews/),\n\n[how-tos](https://9to5google.com/guides/how-to/), and\n\n[subscribe to our YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/9to5google)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/qualcomm-announces-the-snapdragon-8-elite-gen-6-and-8-elite-extreme-gen-6", "canonical_source": "https://9to5google.com/2026/09/22/snapdragon-8-elite-gen-6/", "published_at": "2026-09-22 20:00:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-22 20:23:52.069765+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-chips", "ai-infrastructure", "ai-products", "large-language-models", "ai-agents"], "entities": ["Qualcomm", "Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6", "Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6", "Oryon CPU", "Adreno GPU", "Hexagon NPU", "Qualcomm X105 5G modem", "Motorola Signature 27"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/qualcomm-announces-the-snapdragon-8-elite-gen-6-and-8-elite-extreme-gen-6", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/qualcomm-announces-the-snapdragon-8-elite-gen-6-and-8-elite-extreme-gen-6.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/qualcomm-announces-the-snapdragon-8-elite-gen-6-and-8-elite-extreme-gen-6.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/qualcomm-announces-the-snapdragon-8-elite-gen-6-and-8-elite-extreme-gen-6.jsonld"}}