What do the Samsung Galaxy S25, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra and the OnePlus 13 have in common, beyond simply being Android phones? The answer is that they're all powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, which is the processor of choice for 2025's top Android flagship phones (other than those made by Google).
The 8 Elite has performed well in our testing, but a successor is incoming. Next week at the Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii, Qualcomm is set to unveil its latest, greatest chip, which it announced on Monday will be named the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. This is the chip that will likely power next year's best Android phones, and I'm excited to see what the company has in store at the launch event in Maui next week.
In anticipation of the fact that people are bound to be confused by the name of the new chip, Qualcomm published a blog post on Monday explaining how the 8 Elite seemingly jumped four generations in a single year. According to the company's naming convention, last year should really have been the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, but Qualcomm decided to exchange the "4" for "Elite" to signify the boost in power enabled by the inclusion of its Oryon CPU.
As such, this year's chip gets to keep "Elite" in its name, while also falling back in step with the original naming convention, which sees it marked out as the fifth generation in the Snapdragon 8 series.
"The 'Elite' name is reserved for our most industry-leading products -- those that push boundaries in capability, experience and innovation," said Qualcomm. "It's not just a name. It's a promise."
I'll be holding it to that promise as I begin to explore the chip's capabilities next week at the Snapdragon Summit, bringing you the first glimpse of what will set apart the 2026 batch of Android flagship phones from what we've seen this year.