Qualcomm has officially unveiled its next-generation flagship mobile processor, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which is set to debut at the Snapdragon Summit in Maui, Hawaii, on September 23, 2025. This cutting-edge chipset will power a wave of premium Android smartphones, with Xiaomi’s 17 series confirmed as the first devices to feature it.
The launch puts an end to weeks of speculation and leaks about Qualcomm’s upcoming processor and its naming scheme. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 succeeds last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite but appears to skip generations compared to the older Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 from 2023. This jump in naming has sparked curiosity within the tech community, leading Qualcomm to publish a clarification.
In an official blog post, Qualcomm explained the reasoning behind the change: “It might look like we skipped generations, but the truth is simpler — and more powerful. Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 marks the fifth generation of our premium 8-series platforms since we introduced our new single-digit naming and visual identity. By aligning with Gen 5, we’re reinforcing its leadership position and simplifying how consumers understand our product roadmap.”
While some enthusiasts remain skeptical of the explanation, the performance of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 will ultimately determine how well it is received. Ahead of the official launch, a Geekbench leak has already given us a glimpse of its raw power. The leaked benchmark, allegedly from a Xiaomi 17 series prototype, shows a single-core score of 3025 and a multi-core score of 9178.
- For comparison, devices powered by last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite, such as the OnePlus 13 and iQOO 13, achieved very similar results on Geekbench 6.
- The OnePlus 13 scored 3024 (single core) and 9158 (multi-core), while the iQOO 13 recorded 3016 and 9445, respectively.
- This suggests that while Qualcomm’s new processor is expected to bring incremental performance improvements, its main strength may lie in AI advancements, power efficiency, and next-gen GPU capabilities — areas Qualcomm has been heavily emphasizing in recent years.
As Qualcomm’s premium Snapdragon chips typically set the performance standard for flagship Android phones, the 8 Elite Gen 5 is likely to be seen in nearly all high-end smartphones launching through late 2025 and 2026. Alongside Xiaomi, brands like Samsung, OnePlus, Vivo, and iQOO are expected to adopt the processor for their upcoming devices.
With the Snapdragon Summit just days away, more details about the chipset’s architecture, GPU performance, and AI-focused enhancements are expected to be revealed. For now, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 looks set to continue Qualcomm’s dominance in the premium Android space, promising powerful performance and efficiency for the next generation of flagship smartphones.