Qualcomm’s New Chips Power AI and 8K Video for Top Android Phones — and They’re Coming Soon
A pair of top-tier Snapdragon chips will empower AI, boost graphics and enable 8K video in next year’s phones.
Qualcomm has unveiled new chips designed to power premium Android smartphones, specifically highlighting AI capabilities and 8K video features. At the Snapdragon Summit 2026, the company introduced the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, both built on a 2nm process for enhanced performance and efficiency.
These chips, set to debut in Xiaomi and Motorola phones later this year, showcase significant upgrades over last year's models. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, positioned at a higher tier, boasts a top-tier AI agent capability, supporting models with over 30 billion parameters, superior video processing, and advanced AI graphics.
It also features an expanded Hexagon Neural Processing Unit (NPUs) with a larger FlexCache shared memory, contributing to quicker data processing. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 follows, offering a robust performance boost and improved video capabilities. Both chips top out at 5GHz, marking the first mobile chip to achieve this speed.
Qualcomm's advancements extend to sound processing with the introduction of Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2, offering double the AI performance with reduced power consumption. Qualcomm also announced a suite of apps and agents tailored for devices supporting the Snapdragon Sound software, enhancing AI-driven functionalities.
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