It was just September Qualcomm launched its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and there are already rumours about the next chipset. Rumours have it that the next processor is high-end tech that will completely change the Android experience.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chip (codenamed SM8975) succeeds the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Trusted informant Digital Chat Station shared on the Chinese social media platform, Weibo, that Qualcomm will reportedly use TSMC’s most advanced 2nm N2P process for the next processor.
Image credit: MobilityArena
Flagship phones like Galaxy S25 Ultra and OnePlus 15 are powered by the current Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, which is built on a 3nm process. Qualcomm will move over to the 2nm process, skipping the N2 process and adopting the refined N2P node.
TSMC’s N2P process is the second-generation 2nm technology that offers 18% better performance compared to the current chipset. The N2P node beats the 3nm N3E process adopted for the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, promising 36% lower power consumption.
The N2P node packs more transistors in the chip, making it 1.15x denser than the 3nm N3E chip. With these adjustments, flagship Android phones will perform way better than they already do.
That’s not all; the leak reveals that Qualcomm design the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 to support up to LPDDR6 RAM and UFS 5.0 storage to make phones faster and more efficient.
With upgrades in memory and storage, phones will be better equipped to support AI-driven tasks, which is exactly what future phones need, with Android software and camera systems geared towards machine learning.
This advanced technology is expensive, which is not surprising. The leak suggests that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chip will be quite expensive. Manufacturers won’t shoulder the cost. They’ll be handed down to you.
The next wave of premium smartphones are expected to be more powerful with impressive performance, but all that will come with a higher price tag.
