Qualcomm Said to be Developing Another High-End Chipset; Could Offer Snapdragon 8 Elite-Level Performance

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus could launch as another high-end chipset in 2026. Although it is tipped to be less powerful than the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, it might still offer performance at the level of the Snapdragon 8 Elite, Qualcomm's current flagship chipset. It could be manufactured using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)'s 3nm N3P process, along with some “peripherals” of the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2.

Qualcomm's New Chipset Could Offer Snapdragon 8 Elite-Level Performance

In a post on the Chinese microblogging platform Weibo, tipster Digital Chat Station has revealed that the chipset manufacturer Qualcomm is developing a new high-end SoC with the model number SM8845. This new chip is tipped to offer Snapdragon 8 Elite's level of performance, which is the company's current flagship SoC. Hence, it could mean that Qualcomm is looking to place this rumoured chip between its next flagship, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, and its current flagship. According to a report by GSMArena, the SoC could be named the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus.

Additionally, the tipster also revealed that the rumoured Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus will be developed on a proprietary architecture with large cores. It is said to use TSMC's 3nm N3P process, along with “some peripherals” of the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, which is expected to launch in September with significant performance improvements over its predecessor. The devices powered by the Snapdragon 8 Plus SoC are expected to also feature large-sized batteries, with a maximum capacity of 8,000mAh.

Since it is expected to deliver Snapdragon 8 Elite-level performance, we can take a look at the specifications of the chipset for reference. Launched in October 2024, Qualcomm's current flagship SoC is built on a 64-bit architecture, which is based on a 3nm process. It features a second-generation, custom-built octa-core Qualcomm Oryon CPU, offering a peak clock speed of 4.32GHz.

As per Qualcomm's claims, it has 45 percent better performance in single and multi-core performance, improving the web browsing speed by 62 percent. At the launch, the company stated that devices powered by this chip would support up to LPDDR5x RAM and UFS 4.0 storage. The Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC also introduces Nanite solution of Unreal Engine 5, which enables film-quality 3D environments in smartphone gaming.