Qualcomm has quietly launched the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V Series today, which is a new and an affordable chip of its 8 Elite Gen 5 family. It comes with the model number SM8850-1-AB and it's the fourth version of this chip so far. On paper, it looks identical to the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, but there are subtle GPU differences. So if you are curious about what the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V Series brings, follow our explainer below.
What is the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V Series?
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V Series is a cost-optimised version of Qualcomm's flagship SoC. It's built on the same 3nm process node, has the same architecture and uses the same CPU. Basically, it's the same design, just tuned to hit a lower price without dropping flagship features.
Qualcomm now has four versions of the 8 Elite Gen 5 in the market. The standard Snapdrgon 8 Elite Gen 5 (SM8850-AC) goes into most premium Android phones.
The SM8850-1-AD is the higher-frequency Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy variant used in Samsung's Galaxy S26 series, Galaxy Z Fold 8 and gaming phones like the RedMagic 11S Pro+. The SM8850-5-AC is a 7-core variant found in the Oppo Find N6. And now the SM8850-1-AB V Series joins them as the new value option.
The first phone to use the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V Series chip is the Redmi K100 Pro, which launches in China on 11 August. Xiaomi is positioning the phone in the CNY 4,000 (around Rs 48,000) segment, so the V Series is clearly built for near-flagship phones that don't cost flagship money.
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Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V Series CPU
The CPU on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V Series is the same as the standard 8 Elite Gen 5. It uses the same 3rd-gen custom Oryon cores in an octa-core layout. Two Prime cores are clocked up to 4.6GHz and six Performance cores are clocked up to 3.62GHz.
Apart from that, you may have seen the 8 Elite Gen 5 running at 4.74GHz, but that is the "for Galaxy" variant inside phones like the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The regular chip and the V Series both run at 4.6GHz, so both have the same CPU.
Note that Qualcomm also sells a cheaper non-Elite Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip, but that is a different and slower chip with its prime cores locked at 3.8GHz, so don't confuse it with the V Series.
You can expect the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V Series to score around 3,500 in Geekbench single-core and 10,000 in multi-core, if we go by Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 benchmarks. In effect, if you buy a phone with the V Series chip, you are getting top-end CPU performance.
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Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V Series GPU
The GPU is where Qualcomm has made some changes. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V Series still uses the Adreno 840 running at 1.2GHz, but in a slightly different configuration. It ships with 2 GPU slices (instead of 3) and 12MB (instead of 18MB) of Adreno High Performance Memory (HPM). That is a step down from the standard chip and it's where the lower price comes from.
That said, it should not result in poor graphics performance. A GPU that holds its sustained performance through a long gaming session is better than a chip that spikes for a benchmark run and then throttles hard. We saw this pattern in our Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 vs Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 testing, where the underpowered 8 Gen 5 held its graphics performance far better.
The V Series also keeps every gaming feature intact, including Unreal Engine 5 support, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, Tile Memory Heap and Snapdragon Game Super Resolution 2.0.
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Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V Series Specs
| Specs | Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V Series |
|---|---|
| Process Node | TSMC's 3nm (N3P) |
| CPU | 8-core 3rd-gen Oryon CPU |
| CPU Cores | 2x 3rd-gen Oryon Prime (4.60GHz), 6x 3rd-gen Oryon Performance (3.62GHz) |
| GPU | Adreno 840 (2 slices) at 1.2GHz, 12MB Adreno HPM |
| NPU | Qualcomm Hexagon NPU with Qualcomm Sensing Hub |
| ISP | Qualcomm Spectra, triple 20-bit AI ISPs, up to 320MP photo, 8K HDR playback at 60fps, 4K capture at 120fps |
| Storage and Memory | LPDDR5X up to 5300MHz, UFS 4.1 |
| Modem | Snapdragon X85 5G Modem, up to 12.5Gbps peak download, up to 3.7Gbps peak upload |
| Connectivity | FastConnect 7900, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, UWB |
In my opinion, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V Series is a great chip and it's a flagship one. It keeps the same CPU, modem, ISP and NPU and only trims down the GPU, which makes the chip affordable for phone makers. You still get flagship day-to-day performance and the full Snapdragon feature set.
By the way, this tiering is only going to get more common. At Snapdragon Summit 2026, Qualcomm is expected to launch two separate flagship chips side by side: a standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 (SM8950) and a pricier Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro (SM8975).
Both are expected to move to a 2nm process node while packing new-gen 2+3+3 Oryon cores. The 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro variant may get a beefier Adreno 850 GPU, LPDDR6 memory support and a rumoured 5GHz peak clock. The regular 8 Elite Gen 6 is expected to stick with the Adreno 845 GPU and LPDDR5X memory for mainstream flagship phones.
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