Actually, comparing the multi-core score of the Snapdragon 8 Elite against the Apple A18 Pro and the Dimensity 9400, and next the 3D Mark Wildlife Unlimited score of the Snapdragon 8 Elite against the Apple A18 Pro, it seems that the Snapdragon 8 Elite could be the most powerful CPU and GPU inside a smartphone in 2025.
Performance
This year, the Snapdragon 8 Elite performance is based on the same Orion CPU that was first introduced in the Snapdragon X Elite, which is why “Elite” is in the name. The Snapdragon chip is based on a new 3nm fabrication process and utilizes the TSMC N3B Node, said to be more efficient. Gone are the days of efficiency cores; the Dimensity 9400 doesn’t have it, and even the Snapdragon 8 Elite doesn’t. So, what do you get? Two prime cores clocked at 4.32 GHz and six performance cores clocked at 3.53 GHz. When we asked Qualcomm, they said they don’t need efficiency cores because the performance cores are efficient themselves. Each of these clusters also has its own 12 MB L2 cache, meaning the total cache is 24 MB.
Now, of course, you’ve got an Adreno GPU inside Snapdragon. Qualcomm doesn’t mention which Adreno GPU, but we’re all presuming it’s the A30, and it operates at 3.3 GHz. It uses Splice technology, with three clusters of 1.1 GHz each, and the GPU itself has its own 12 MB L2 cache. Apart from that, you get support for LPDDR5x RAM, Wi-Fi 7, and for the very first time, Bluetooth 6 as well. So, what you get is extreme performance: you actually get over 10,000 points in multi-core scores with the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which is not possible on the A18 Pro or even the Dimensity 9400. Similarly, AnTuTu scores are crossing 3 million points now, a massive jump from scoring 2 million points on most Snapdragon Gen 3 phones to now directly 3 million. That’s crazy!
However, in single-core performance, Apple is still leading the charts, though Snapdragon is cutting the gap quite a bit now. Snapdragon also claims that it is a more power-efficient processor, so it should manage heat better, but that’s something we’ll be able to confirm once we start testing devices that come with the Snapdragon 8 Elite. The other thing we need to check is whether the Snapdragon 8 Elite will experience any thermal throttling, so stay tuned for our reviews.
The Adreno GPU also brings a 40% improvement in gaming performance and a 35% improvement in ray tracing performance. What is more interesting is that this GPU now supports Unreal Engine 5’s Nanite technology, which significantly improves texture quality. We saw a live demo, and it was very impressive—games will look incredible with great textures on a small display. Oh my God, it’s going to be crazy! I also played Grid Legends, which is launching in December. That’s like a proper console game that was released in 2020, and it does look very impressive to see a game like that run natively on a phone. Massive improvements to gaming, for sure!
However, one thing I want from Qualcomm and the OEM partners is to strengthen relationships with game developers so they can beat Apple at porting console-quality games to the phone. Qualcomm’s numbers show that with the CPU, we are looking at 45% gains, and with web browsing performance, there are 62% gains. We actually saw that live in action in a benchmark.
From early tests, it looks like the Snapdragon 8 Elite is going to be more powerful and more power-efficient than the MediaTek Dimensity 9400.
Camera
Of course, camera performance is expected to be excellent. This time, the ISP is doing a few interesting things; Qualcomm is calling this an AI ISP. This means that OEMs like Samsung, Xiaomi, and others have been asking Qualcomm for AI-specific improvements to the ISP so they can leverage AI for better results. For example, there was a demo of a pet jumping where the camera captured several photos and then picked out the best shot, similar to what Google does with its Best Take feature. There was also a demo of object eraser in videos, which Qualcomm says is coming to a brand phone soon, likely Samsung. Another interesting demo showed a portrait lighting feature where you could relight the face with colors of different lights according to your preference. It was very well implemented, and I’d love to see this in future phones.
A lot of the ISP improvements will also benefit future Sony L sensors. Plus, for the very first time, this Spectra triple 18-bit ISP can do three simultaneous 48 MP captures of 4K 30 FPS videos with zero shutter lag. Basically, camera performance is also going to be excellent. By the way, there was one more demo showing that the Qualcomm reference design was actually capturing more details than an iPhone 16 Pro Max without HDR. With HDR, the details will go down.
New Devices on the Horizon
With all of these improvements, the phones featuring the Snapdragon 8 Elite are expected to arrive very soon in India. The first phone coming is the Realme GT7 Pro, while the Xiaomi 15 series is launching worldwide. The OnePlus 13 is also coming soon, along with the iU 13, which has been confirmed to feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite. It’s going to be an exciting time! Even on stage, we had Honor and Asus showcase their new devices, the Honor Magic 7 and the Asus R49. We got a peek at them, and they look promising.
Conclusion
Based on everything I’ve seen so far, the Snapdragon 8 Elite seems to live up to its name; it could be an actual Elite processor in flagship phones in 2025.
