Qualcomm used to keep this part simple. One flagship chip a year, maybe a slightly cheaper version later on. That’s not how the Snapdragon 8 Series Chipsets are shaping up this year. According to several leaks, Qualcomm is preparing at least three separate tiers. There’s a standard Snapdragon 8, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro.
Tipster Digital Chat Station says both Elite chips will move to TSMC’s 2nm process. That’s Qualcomm’s first time using it for mobile silicon. The Pro version reportedly gets a beefier Adreno 850 GPU and support for next-gen LPDDR6 memory. The standard Elite Gen 6 sticks with an Adreno 845 and older LPDDR5X. That’s already two chips, but another leak goes further. Tipster Reptalica claims Qualcomm is testing six different hardware samples of the Pro chip alone, split across three performance tiers and two memory configurations. None of this is confirmed yet, so treat the exact numbers as a moving target.
Why Qualcomm Is Doing This
The short answer is cost. Android flagships have been getting more expensive, and chip pricing is a big reason why. A 2nm wafer reportedly costs close to double what 3nm production runs. That expense flows straight into what phone makers pay per unit. Splitting the Snapdragon 8 Series Chipsets into more tiers gives manufacturers room to pick a configuration that fits their budget instead of paying flagship prices across the board.
Analysts at Counterpoint Research estimate the new chip split could push Ultra-tier phone prices up $150 to $200 this year. Earlier Snapdragon chipsets already showed real generational jumps, so the performance gap between tiers probably won’t be small either. Qualcomm hasn’t confirmed any of this. But if the Snapdragon 8 Series Chipsets really do split this many ways, picking the right one might be harder than building it.
