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A weekend of testing the REDMAGIC 12 Pro, powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip, confirmed the processor's record benchmark results, with sustained performance outlasting the iPhone 18 Pro Max in comparisons. However, stress tests recorded internal and external temperatures exceeding 58°C, despite the phone's dual-loop liquid cooling and 25,500 RPM fan.
An open-source app called DroidDeck lets supported Snapdragon Android devices run Valve's ARM64 Linux Steam client locally in Big Picture mode, without streaming, root access, or replacing Android's OS. Windows titles run via Proton with FEX handling x86 translation, and users can download games from their existing Steam libraries directly onto the device. It requires Android 9 or newer, Adreno 730+ graphics (6xx experimental), and several gigabytes of storage for the runtime and optional components.
Android Authority ran Geekbench 6 tests on a reference phone powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip, built on TSMC's 2nm process with prime CPU cores clocked up to 5GHz. Single-core performance rose about 10% over last year's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, while multi-core gains were minimal at roughly 1.5% despite efficiency cores jumping to 4GHz.
Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 mobile processors at its Snapdragon Summit, built on a 2nm process with dual 5GHz Oryon Prime cores. The chips bring notable CPU, GPU and NPU gains over the prior generation, alongside power efficiency improvements, and will ship in upcoming flagship phones from brands including Honor, Motorola, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi. Qualcomm emphasized AI agent capabilities, such as automated video sorting and location-based notifications, as the lineup's central feature.
Qualcomm announced its next flagship mobile chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, built on a 2nm process with an eight-core Oryon CPU, a 35% faster Adreno GPU, and an NPU that's 14% faster with 20% better performance-per-watt. The chip supports 8K video at 30fps, up to 320-megapixel photo capture, and connectivity including Wi-Fi 8, Bluetooth 6 and a new 5G modem, with an unspecified Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 variant offering additional features on the same architecture.