Qualcomm will reportedly launch new Snapdragon chip to power sub-flagship Android phones
Back in October, we told you that Qualcomm announced its next flagship application processor (AP), the Snapdragon 8 Elite AP. Using Qualcomm's own custom CPU cores instead of Arm's for the first time, the pricey 3nm component will be powering flagship Android phones like the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the OnePlus 13. Leaker Digital Chat Station took to his Weibo account to pass along information about the alleged chipset he expects Qualcomm to offer for "sub-flagship models," the Snapdragon 8s Elite.
Last March, Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 made for upper mid-range smartphones. It featured more AI support and was a bit smaller than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 flagship, but was not as powerful. The performance of the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 did match that of the previous year's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 flagship. Digital Chat Station, who does have a decent reputation, says that the Snapdragon 8s Elite will have the model number SM8735 and will outperform the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 but not the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
According to Digital Chat Station, the first phones to be powered by the Snapdragon 8s Elite will be available in April of next year and will fit the category of mid-range handsets. These phones could feature batteries sporting large capacities of 7000mAh. At this stage, there has been no word from Qualcomm about the Snapdragon 8s Elite but it certainly makes sense for the chipmaker to offer a successor to the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3.
Leaker Digital Chat Station says that Qualcomm will release the Snapdragon 8s Elite AP next year. | Image credit-Weibo
The tweet from Digital Chat Station didn't include any information about which foundry will manufacture the chip although we would expect Qualcomm to stick with TSMC. And speaking of foundries, the tweet also didn't include any mention of the process node that will be used to build the component. The Snapdragon 8 Elite AP is produced by TSMC using its second-gen 3nm node (N3E) and we should expect the Snapdragon 8s Elite to be built on the same 4nm node used for the predecessor Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 AP.
With an expected release date of next April, we might not get the official word from Qualcomm about the Snapdragon 8s Elite until the first quarter of 2025. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 was first introduced in March of this year which was when phones using the chip first started hitting the shelves.
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