Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip for your next flagship phone

Qualcomm has officially revealed the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 mobile platform, a chip for premium flagship phones. It’s basically a package designed for anyone who likes their phone to go fast. The company is using its custom built Qualcomm Oryon CPU here, which clocks peak speeds of up to 3.8 GHz. But there’s more here, so let’s dive in.

New Oryon CPU and Hexagon NPU

The 8 Gen 5 brings a 36 per cent performance improvement. Meanwhile, web browsing responsiveness has seen a massive 76 per cent jump. That is compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 according to the fine print in the press release.

Gamers are treated to the Qualcomm Adreno 840 GPU, which features a sliced architecture to boost graphics performance by 11 per cent. That architecture unlocks higher clock speeds too, specifically of up to 1.2GHz.

But it’s AI that’s the main event here. The Qualcomm Hexagon NPU is inside to handle the workload and it delivers a massive 46 per cent better performance. This allows for agentic AI assistants that provide personalised suggestions.

The Qualcomm Sensing Hub is also part of the package. It uses microphone and sensor inputs to detect if you want to speak. You just pick up the phone and wake the assistant instantly. Seamless on device intelligent experiences are the goal.

Finally, the Snapdragon X80 5G Modem-RF for connectivity offers 5G-Advanced readiness with 6Rx antenna support, promising maximum uplink speeds up to 3.5 Gbps.

We know which brands are using this premium tier offering. You will see the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 in handsets from OnePlus and Vivo and Motorola and iQOO. OnePlus has devices launching with it in the coming weeks.

ALSO READ: Qualcomm has an Apple-like chip strategy with the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 5

Chris Patrick is the senior vice president and general manager of mobile handsets at Qualcomm. He said they have reimagined the 8 series family to exceed consumer expectations.