C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
All of us lengthy for quicker processors, but when the leaked Snapdragon 8s Elite specs are correct, Qualcomm’s upcoming cellular chip would possibly hit the perfect candy spot of cheap efficiency and value, arguably a harder feat than piling the very best of every thing right into a chip. When it’s lastly unveiled, seemingly round March 2025, it is going to be destined for sub-flagship telephones (assume round $500 or so), and I’ll actually be retaining my eye on the handsets that the 8s Elite ships in, probably extra so than this 12 months’s upcoming ultra-premium fashions.
I’m not a efficiency killjoy; I’ve been very impressed by the early Snapdragon 8 Elite smartphones I’ve had the luxurious of utilizing up to now — they’re tremendous responsive, and Qualcomm’s customized CPU design sips on battery life, making certain telephones simply final all day. The 8 Elite is nice, however I’ve nonetheless not discovered a real-world use case that places the chip to the sword. Even high-end gaming barely causes the chip to interrupt a sweat, its networking capabilities far exceed my provider’s, and I don’t actually have any use for all that on-device AI shenanigans.
Headroom for the longer term is sweet, in fact, however with flagship smartphone costs hitting all-time highs, it’s exhausting to advocate paying for extra efficiency than we will use. A lot of you expensive readers really feel the identical method, and this theme crops up increasingly usually as of late.
Would you purchase a Snapdragon 8s Elite cellphone?
97 votes
When Qualcomm’s newest chip is pushed to run at full tilt, smartphones wrestle with the warmth, which is a bit regarding from a future-proof and battery longevity perspective. Qualcomm’s 8 Elite pushes the boundaries of what will be accomplished within the compact smartphone kind issue. It’s a marvel from a technological perspective, nevertheless it’s nearly like shopping for a V8 solely to crawl by downtown visitors — it’s simply not how most of us must be spending our cash.
The 8 Elite is nice, however the 8s ought to present most of what we wish at a cheaper price.
Whereas the Snapdragon 8s Elite remains to be in testing, early stories recommend it would carry out simply behind final 12 months’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 flagship — a chip that also flies by probably the most demanding cellular video games, runs AI on-device, and sports activities all of the connectivity choices you possibly can ever need. In fact, we’ll have to attend to see which options find yourself on the chopping block; it’ll seemingly have some community downgrades to start out. It received’t function Qualcomm’s customized CPU cores both, reverting to a extra acquainted Arm Cortex association. That’s more likely to be probably the most important downgrade, a disgrace given the ability and effectivity of the flagship 8 Elite. I had hoped for a leaner hexa-core Phoenix CPU association, however maybe Qualcomm is saving one thing like that for subsequent 12 months’s 8s Elite 2.
Nonetheless, I’d argue that efficiency and options have been bountiful since 2023’s 8 Gen 2 period, which is roughly the place Google’s Tensor G4 sits on the benchmark charts at this time because it occurs. If the Snapdragon 8s Elite can finest that, which it seems to be like it would, with a element price appropriate for telephones round and even under the $600 mark, I believe Qualcomm shall be on to a significant winner for mass customers. Particularly if it means extra funds headroom for digicam upgrades, strong construct supplies, and longer-term assist, that are a lot larger contributors to closing the hole on costlier, top-tier flagships.
Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority
The latest OnePlus 13R ($599.99 at OnePlus) is a first-rate instance of an outstanding but rather more inexpensive smartphone that actually isn’t held again by last-gen efficiency. Likewise, the Galaxy S24 FE ($552.54 at Amazon) and its Exynos 2400e chipset make sure the necessities maintain up effectively, permitting Samsung to carry its broader Galaxy expertise to extra cost-conscious customers. These are the telephones I’m recommending to family and friends who need one thing strong and succesful that’ll final 4 or 5 years and not using a $999 or greater price ticket, and the Snapdragon 8s Elite ought to assist extra telephones match into this similar class.
Give me higher cameras and longer assist over quicker benchmarks.
My hope is that we’ll see the Snapdragon 8s Elite seem in a variety of handsets, not simply these destined for markets outdoors of the US. Sadly, Google and Samsung have already got their very own chips, however we extremely rated the foldable Motorola Razr Plus (2024) ($799.99 at Amazon) based mostly on the 8s Gen 3.
We nonetheless have months to go till Qualcomm unveils its subsequent s-tier chip and even longer till handsets land on retailer cabinets, so maybe I’m getting forward of myself. There are nonetheless loads of thrilling 2025 flagships to come back, however I’m undoubtedly holding again on future purchases till I can see what the second half of the 12 months has in retailer for the cash-conscious.
