Qualcomm’s iPhone Killer Chip Is a Efficiency Monster Constructed for Supersized Telephones

The back-and-forth between the iPhone and Android chips is turning into much less of a cat combat and extra of a bear pit filled with ravenous ursines. We’ve seen how the iPhone 18 Pro’s A20 Pro chip has enabled a long-lasting and succesful gadget. Now, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, which can energy the subsequent era of Android flagship telephones, is representing the trendy epitome of sustained efficiency gaming potential.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is highly effective, sure, nevertheless it’s additionally made for individuals who suppose their telephones should be the most important, strongest slabs doable. And which means these units are going to price a ton of cash, and so they’re positively not going to be the type of small telephones you possibly can slip right into a pair of thin denims.

Here’s the breakdown: the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is the ultra-powered model of the bottom Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6. Sure, each eight-core chips are constructed on the extra environment friendly 2nm course of in comparison with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5’s 3nm. However, solely the “Extreme” model attains a 5GHz peak clock pace for its quickest “Prime” cores. Otherwise, Qualcomm’s “Extreme” CPU is packing an entire lot of AI capabilities inside, plus additional additions to the GPU to allow enhanced AI upscaling—a part of the brand new “Neural Fusion” capabilities that might assist you sport at a greater body fee for longer.

At this yr’s Snapdragon Summit , Qualcomm let tech media run a number of benchmarks on a jumble of Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 reference design models. (Full disclosure: journey and lodging had been paid by Qualcomm, and Gizmodo didn’t assure any protection as a situation of accepting the journey.) These telephones aren’t something you should buy. They are operating on 24GB of RAM—twice as a lot as you get on a base Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra powered by final yr’s flagship Snapdragon chip. They’re additionally operating with a 4,400mAh battery, which is definitely a smaller capability than Samsung’s earlier flagship.

So with all that in thoughts, Qualcomm’s blueprint telephones hit an 8% uptick in multi-core capabilities in Geekbench 7. That take a look at runs by means of the CPU’s normal capabilities on a telephone. However, Apple nonetheless has round a ten% profit in single-core settings, which implies Apple’s telephone has the slightest edge for duties like loading net pages.

That’s not a serious distinction. You’ll discover extra variance in how succesful the A20 Pro or Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is for real-time graphics, like gaming. In 3DMark’s “Steel Nomad Light” checks, the Qualcomm reference telephone made off with 20% higher efficiency. It’s an analogous story for the “Wild Life Extreme” take a look at, with Qualcomm providing 22% higher efficiency. For ray tracing, the simulated lifelike lighting utilized in demanding video games, 3DMark’s “Solar Bay” take a look at on Qualcomm’s gadget did 17% higher.

Here’s the issue: these telephones ran scorching. I couldn’t run a number of checks in a row with out ready for the gadget to chill down. After operating the Antutu smartphone benchmark, the gadget was roasting and misplaced practically 9% battery in only a few minutes. This overheating situation was even worse than final yr after I examined the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chips.

So far, we’ve seen two corporations come on stage to flash a brand new telephone with Qualcomm’s flagship processor. They’re each huge boys. Motorola hasn’t supplied a particular display screen spec of its Signature 27, however I’ve held it in my hand, and it positively has Galaxy S26 Ultra vibes when it comes to north-to-south wingspan. The Xiaomi 18 Pro Max is equally going to be a big gadget, though the China-based gadget maker gained’t present it off till Sept. 23. Meanwhile, Motorola has not supplied any thought how a lot its new flagship will price.

Chris Patrick, Qualcomm’s VP of handsets, instructed Gizmodo in a decent roundtable with tech reporters that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip isn’t devoted solely to huge telephones. However, it’s inevitably geared extra towards these options. Gamers who need the highest-end GPU efficiency and the promise of Adreno Neural Fusion for devoted AI upscaling can even most likely need a bigger show.

And there’s a cause why you additionally need extra space. The 2nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme takes the devoted CPU reminiscence cache and strikes it from on high of the CPU to the aspect, which implies it’s a chip that takes up extra space than earlier flagships. That additionally permits Qualcomm to position cooling apparatuses like a vapor chamber straight on the die, which can (hopefully) result in a much less toasty telephone. That promise of higher cooling definitely wasn’t there with these benchmarking telephones.

It’s the AI upscaling capabilities that can really matter most for players. Amandeep Dhaliwal, Qualcomm’s foremost man answerable for GPU technique, instructed reporters that Neural Fusion is working alongside new chip efficiencies to allow you to sport for longer at 60 fps, relatively than at a restricted 30 fps. It’s about making video games really feel extra premium, even when which means the GPU is relying extra on AI capabilities and fewer on uncooked GPU horsepower. Either means, the subsequent Snapdragon-based telephones will definitely be fascinating, even when they’ll inevitably be the most costly units obtainable.