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Qualcomm introduced two new mobile processors, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, at its 2026 Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii. CEO Cristiano Amon and product marketing manager Charlie Beeman described the Extreme variant as the company's most advanced chip yet, built to handle heavier on-device AI workloads than previous generations.
Motorola showed off the Signature 27 at the Snapdragon Summit, marking the debut device for Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset. The phone features a 50MP Sony LYTIA 910 main sensor and a 200MP periscope telephoto camera, plus upgraded cooling and Bang & Olufsen tuned audio. Motorola says it will offer seven years of OS and security updates, with a global launch expected in 2026.
Motorola has introduced a new device called the Signature 27, built around Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 processor. The chip choice signals a premium positioning for the handset, though full specs and pricing were not detailed.
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.
Qualcomm announced two new flagship mobile chips, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and the higher-tier Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, both built on a 2nm process for improved speed and efficiency. Xiaomi and Motorola showed off phones using the new chips at the event, including Motorola's Signature 27, which pairs the Extreme Gen 6 chip with a four-camera system and Google's Gemini AI, and is expected to launch by the end of 2026.
Qualcomm introduced two new flagship smartphone chips, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Extreme Gen 6, at its Snapdragon Summit, emphasizing on-device AI capabilities. The Extreme version can run a 30-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts model locally, includes a new sensing hub for personalized AI agents, and supports 8K60fps video recording. Motorola announced its Signature 27 phone will use the Extreme chip, with availability planned later this year.
A TechInsights teardown of the iPhone 18 Pro Max confirms that the US model uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon X80 modem instead of Apple's own C2 chip, which powers the device everywhere else and in the smaller iPhone 18 Pro globally. The X80 is the same modem found in last year's iPhone 17 Pro line, meaning Apple hasn't fully extended its in-house modem rollout to this specific US model.
Motorola released a new teaser confirming its upcoming Signature 27 flagship will run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, though the exact chip remains unnamed. The device is set to debut on September 22, the same day Qualcomm kicks off its Snapdragon Summit where next-generation flagship silicon is expected to be unveiled.
WIRED's roundup of the best Android phones for 2026 includes guidance for shoppers considering models outside the main recommendations, covering display type, screen size, processor, RAM, cooling and refresh rate. It notes that OLED screens are now common even in budget phones, that Qualcomm Snapdragon 7-series or MediaTek Dimensity 7000-series chips or better offer reliable performance, and that 8GB of RAM (ideally 12GB) suits multitasking and AI features.
MediaTek announced its Dimensity 9600 Pro and 9600M mobile processors, both built to handle demanding gaming and on-device AI tasks. The Pro variant is MediaTek's first chip built on TSMC's 2-nanometer process, promising better efficiency and performance than last year's Dimensity 9500, while the 9600M offers similar AI and gaming capabilities as a more affordable option. Both chips can reportedly sustain console-quality gaming at 185 frames per second.
Valve has released the Steam Frame, a VR headset that runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and offers up to 1TB of storage, letting it play games independently without a connected PC. The device is significantly lighter than the older Valve Index, weighing 440 grams versus 809 grams, and uses six cameras for tracking, passthrough, and eye-tracking. It arrives as the third major hardware release from Valve in 2026, following the Steam Controller and Steam Machine.
Valve has released the Steam Frame, a VR headset that can run games independently using an onboard Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and up to 1TB of storage, rather than relying solely on PC streaming like its predecessor, the Valve Index. The device weighs roughly half as much as the Index thanks to lighter materials, and uses six cameras for tracking, passthrough, and eye-tracking, with a price tag exceeding $1,000.