While the first wave of smartphones powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 begins to roll out, leaks about the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 are already surfacing. And unsurprisingly, they suggest the processor will not only break the performance barriers but also the price barriers.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 could bring LPDDR6 RAM and UFS 5.0 storage
The leak arrives courtesy of Digital Chat Station on Weibo and suggests Qualcomm might leapfrog directly to TSMC's enhanced N2P (2nm+) manufacturing process for the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6. The tipster reveals that the processor will boast the model number SM8975.
This would be a jump from the N3P (3nm+) processor used for the current Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, potentially offering substantial gains in performance and power efficiency by skipping the N2 process node.
Furthermore, the SoC could feature support for next-generation memory and storage standards, namely LPDDR6 RAM and UFS 5.0 storage. This could further add to the performance improvements with faster data transfer speeds. Of course, including these storage types would depend on the manufacturers.
However, these advancements may come at a price. The tipster notes that the transition to a cutting-edge manufacturing node like N2P could translate to increased prices of Android phones that will launch in 2026 and beyond.
While the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is just beginning to roll out, these early leaks suggest Qualcomm is already planning major upgrades for the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6. We can expect this chipset to power the likes of the Galaxy S27 series, OnePlus 16, iQOO 16 and Realme GT 9 Pro.
As usual, more information about the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 should drop in the latter half of 2026, and in bits and pieces, since there's still a year to go. Stay tuned, as we will cover any new information that pops up about future processors.
