Qualcomm is launching its flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 processor a month early this year, in September. It's said to redefine what a processor can achieve on a mobile device. This time, Qualcomm is going to unveil its 3rd-gen Oryon CPU alongside a powerful upgrade to the Adreno GPU. So in this article, we have compiled all the key details about the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 processor including its CPU and GPU architecture, and performance leaks from Geekbench and AnTuTu.
Snapdragon 8 Elite 2: Potential CPU Architecture
Let's start with who is manufacturing Qualcomm's upcoming flagship, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2. Earlier, there were reports saying that both Samsung (2nm) and TSMC (3nm) may produce the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chipset, SM8850-S and SM8850-T, respectively. However, later, it came to light that Qualcomm has dropped the Samsung-made Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chipset and that only the TSMC-made SM8850-T stands.
But new reports now suggest that the Samsung variant of Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is still in development. While Samsung is struggling with its foundry business, and reportedly, its 2nm yield is quite low for mass production, the project has not been entirely scrapped.
So in all likelihood, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chipset will primarily be manufactured using TSMC's enhanced 3nm (N3P) process node, as confirmed by reliable leaker Digital Chat Station from China. As for Samsung's 2nm variant of 8 Elite 2, it remains to be seen whether it will be used exclusively by Samsung for the Galaxy S26 series or would other OEMs also opt for it.
Apart from that, the leak suggests that Qualcomm is finally adopting the Armv9 architecture for the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 as it brings support for advanced instructions like SME1 and SVE2. On top of that, Qualcomm is keeping its existing 8-core CPU cluster, featuring 2x prime Oryon cores and 6x performance Oryon cores.
As for the CPU cores, the Snapdragon 8 Elite will likely feature the 3rd-gen Oryon CPU. The Snapdragon X Elite came with the 1st-gen Oryon core, the Snapdragon 8 Elite packed the 2nd-gen Oryon core, and the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is likely to feature the 3rd-gen Oryon CPU.
In an early leak, Digital Chat Station indicated that the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 may have an astonishing frequency of around 5GHz, which is quite absurd for a mobile device. Later, the tipster clarified that the peak frequency is to verify the architecture, and that the final clock speeds will be adjusted according to performance and efficiency metrics.
Overall, it's being reported that Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 may deliver about 25% faster CPU performance with the next-gen Oryon cores.
Snapdragon 8 Elite 2: Geekbench Score (Leaked)
In an early leak, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 has appeared on Geekbench, and it has scored 3,393 in single-core and 11,515 in multi-core. It's likely powering the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S26 Edge (SM-S947U) which is a thin device so the performance is quite impressive. That said, it's still early days so take these numbers with a pinch of salt.
What is surprising is that the listing still shows Armv8 as the underlying architecture with support for newer SME/SME2 and SVE instruction sets. And the frequency is 4.74GHz for two high-performance cores and 3.63GHz for six performance cores.
Snapdragon 8 Elite 2: AnTuTu Score (Leaked)
Recent recent rumors say that the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 may achieve a whopping 3.8 million points in the AnTuTu benchmark. If true, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 would score around 38% more than the first-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite. In our AnTuTu benchmark, the Snapdragon 8 Elite scored 2,759,190 points.
Snapdragon 8 Elite 2: Expected GPU Performance
The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is reported to feature an upgraded Adreno 840 GPU, and it may deliver 30% faster graphics performance, according to Digital Chat Station. Last year's Adreno 830 GPU on the Snapdragon 8 Elite already impressed us with its graphics capabilities, and it looks like we may see another great leap in gaming performance.
The leak says that Qualcomm has increased the GPU "independent cache" (likely GMEM) from 12MB to 16MB for faster graphics rendering. And the Adreno 840 GPU can be coupled with faster LPDDR5X / LPDDR6 memory. Finally, Qualcomm has also elevated the GPU clock speed to 1.35GHz, up from Adreno 830's 1.1GHz.
Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 Specifications (Expected)
Specs | Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 |
Process Node | TSMC's 3nm (N3P) |
CPU | 8-core Oryon CPU (2+6) |
CPU Cores | 2x 3rd-gen Oryon, 6x 3rd-gen Oryon |
GPU | Adreno 840 GPU |
NPU | New Hexagon NPU, Up to 100 TOPS |
Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is coming soon
Based on early leaks, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 indeed looks very powerful, but I am definitely more interested in efficiency figures. While the first-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite impressed us with its performance, there were still some concerns related to heating issues. Lately, Qualcomm is raising the frequency quite rapidly, and that could lead to higher power consumption and thermal issues.
If the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 can match the upcoming Apple A19 Pro in terms of performance-per-watt and single-core performance, Qualcomm will have a real winner on its hands. We just have to wait until September 23, 2025, when Qualcomm will officially unveil the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2.
