Qualcomm has officially launched its next-gen flagship chips in Hawaii. And yes, there are two of them this year. The standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 silicon is accompanied with the overclocked Snapdragon 8 Elite ‘Extreme’ Gen 6 chip. Despite being basically the same chip, there are slight tweaks and changes that differentiate the two. Let us compare the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chip to better delineate those differences.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 vs Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6: The ‘Extreme’ Change
This is the first time Snapdragon has split its flagship Elite offering into two chips.
There is the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, which has the model number SM8975. It was earlier called the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro. But Qualcomm dropped the ‘Pro’ in favour of a more ‘Extreme’ branding, presumably to better differentiate itself from the latest MediaTek and Apple 2nm chipsets, both of which also carry the 'Pro' label.
The name, Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, is also Qualcomm’s longest chip name ever.
Then there’s the regular Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, which has the model number SM8950. It is just as capable as its extreme cousin, with the same design and chip architecture. But the standard chip has been trimmed in terms of memory and storage support, GPU, and cache.
The chipsets are expected to appear on upcoming smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra, Oppo Find X10 Ultra, Xiaomi 18 Ultra, Vivo X500 Ultra, OnePlus 16, and iQOO 16.
Related Articles
Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 vs Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6: CPU
Both the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 are Qualcomm’s first 2nm chips, manufactured on TSMC’s N2P node.
The transition from older FinFET transistors of the 3nm fabrication process to the gate-all-around nanosheets on 2nm chips is what leads to the biggest performance upgrades.
Both the chips use the 4th-gen Oryon octa-core CPU setup, with two prime cores and six performance cores. The layout is as follows:
- 2x prime cores clocked at 5.0 GHz.
- 6x performance cores at up to 4.0 GHz.
The two chips are basically the same in terms of CPU architecture and design. However, while the Extreme variant gets the latest UFS 5.0 storage support, the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 gets UFS 4.1 storage.
The ‘Extreme’ also gets the latest LPDDR6 RAM support, similar to MediaTek’s Dimensity 9600 Pro. In comparison, the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 is limited to LPDDR5X memory, which is what last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 also had.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 also has more cache. With 8 MB of system-level cache, it leaves behind the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 with its reduced cache size of 6 MB.
Limiting the memory and cache is one way to get around the ongoing RAM crisis. It allows Qualcomm to furnish a flagship-level chip for most premium smartphones at a lower price while keeping its most expensive ‘extreme’ variant exclusively for ultra-premium devices.
These small differences translate to benchmark scores too. In an early Geekbench 7 test of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip (on the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max), the chip scored 12,247 on multi-core and 3,582 on single-core testing.
On the other hand, the early Geekbench 7 listing for the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 (on the Xiaomi 18 Pro) put it slightly behind, with a single-core score of 3,220 and a multi-core score of 9,646.
| Geekbench 7 | Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 (Leaked) | Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 (Leaked) |
|---|---|---|
| Single-core | 3,582 | 3,220 |
| Multi-core | 12,247 | 9,646 |
A recent leak also gave us Geekbench 6 results of the ‘Extreme’ chip, with a single-core score of 4,327 and a multi-core score of 12,873. These numbers put the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 in touching distance of the Apple A20 Pro chip for single-core while beating it outright in multi-core performance.
However, these results are based on an early engineering prototype and not a retail unit. So, take it with a pinch of salt.
On the AI front, Qualcomm has upgraded its Hexagon NPU to market the chips for the ‘agentic age’. The new NPU architecture brings two new changes – a transformer-focused Element Accelerator and 50% larger shared memory.
The extra shared memory isn't on the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6. But Qualcomm claims the two chips are capable enough to ensure agents remain responsive when handling longer contexts, operating across tools, and managing concurrent tasks.
Related Articles
Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 vs Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6: GPU
The GPU is another area where most of the differences between the two Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chips become apparent.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip likely has the upgraded Adreno 850 GPU with 18 MB of graphics memory (GMEM). On the other hand, the 8 Elite Gen 6 features the Adreno 845 GPU with only 12 MB of GMEM.
Extra graphics memory on the ‘Extreme’ chip naturally delivers better gaming performance on the whole. But the Extreme’s Adreno 850 GPU also includes the AI Frame Fusion feature. With two dedicated Matrix ALU blocks accessing the graphics memory directly, this feature enables better image upscaling and AI frame generation.
The Adreno 845 GPU on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, however, doesn’t include this feature at all.
The two chips get the latest Qualcomm Spectra ISP with AI-powered camera capabilities like Intelligent Pixel Control and Motion Intelligence, as well as Elite Colour Engine with 3DLUT support. But the 'Extreme' chip goes a step further with cinema-grade video APV support, video capture up to 8K @ 60 FPS and ultra HD slow-motion video capture up to 4K @ 240 FPS.
Related Articles
Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 vs Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6: Specs Comparison
| Specifications | Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 | Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Process Node | TSMC’s 2nm (N2P) | TSMC’s 2nm (N2P) |
| CPU | 8-core Oryon CPU (4th-gen) | 8-core Oryon CPU (4th-gen) |
| CPU Cores | 2x prime cores (5.0 GHz), 6x performance cores (up to 4.0 GHz) | 2x prime cores (5.0 GHz), 6x performance cores (up to 4.0 GHz) |
| GPU | new Adreno GPU with AI Frame Fusion | Adreno 845 GPU |
| NPU | Hexagon NPU | Hexagon NPU |
| ISP | Qualcomm Spectra ISP with Intelligent Pixel Control, Elite Colour Engine with 3DLUT support, Cinema-grade video with APV support, 8K60FPS video capture, 4K240FPS ultra HD slow-motion video | Qualcomm Spectra ISP with Intelligent Pixel Control, Elite Colour Engine with 3DLUT support, 4K120FPS video capture, 1080 at 960FPS slow motion video |
| Storage and Memory | UFS 5.0, LPDDR6 memory | UFS 4.1, LPDDR5X memory |
| Modem | Snapdragon X105 5G modem, up to 14.8 Gbps download speed | Snapdragon X105 5G modem, up to 14.8 Gbps download speed |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 8, Bluetooth 6.0, FastConnect 8800, UWB and Thread | Wi-Fi 8, Bluetooth 6.0, FastConnect 8800, UWB and Thread |
Related Articles
Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 vs Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6: Verdict
As Qualcomm intended, the ‘Extreme’ chip is undoubtedly better than the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chip. But not by a huge margin.
Sure, there are clear differences in terms of memory support, GPU, cache size, and camera. But beyond that, there’s little to tell the two Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chips apart. From the CPU layout to the upgraded NPU architecture, they are basically the same chip.
It’s clear that Qualcomm hasn’t designed two separate chips this year, but one, and then nerfed the other to keep the cost down, a necessary evil in these times. But whether or not you have the Extreme version shouldn’t be too big a bother, especially since both chips are flagship-grade.
Related Articles
