Qualcomm could release two flagship Snapdragon chips this year

Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset late last year for Android flagships. With it, the company also took the opportunity to rebrand the flagship SoC, as it would have otherwise been called the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 had Qualcomm followed its previous naming conventions. For this year, we’re hoping to see Qualcomm release the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, but rumors also abound that a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 will be coming alongside. We now have more details on what Qualcomm’s flagship lineup could look like this year.

On Weibo, Leaker Digital Chat Station mentions that the SM8845 (purportedly called the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5) is not an iteration of the SM8735 (Snapdragon 8s Gen 4), nor is it a rebrand of any other existing 8s series chip. Qualcomm is said to be positioning the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 as a flagship chip within the Snapdragon 8 series, as it is said to be sharing the same TSMC N3P process as the SM8850 (purportedly called the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2/Elite Gen 2).

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 is said to use Qualcomm’s in-house Oryon CPU, though it’s not clear if it’s using the same Oryon cores as the 8 Elite or any newer Oryon cores that could come with the 8 Elite 2. It is also said to support the SME (Scalable Matrix Extension) instruction set for on-device AI acceleration.

The leaker mentions that most leading Android phone makers have planned to incorporate the upcoming 8 Gen 5 SoC into their flagships.

In a comment to the Weibo post, Digital Chat Station mentions that the SM8835 (which would have been called the Snapdragon 8s Gen 5) is not coming anytime soon.

Qualcomm’s upcoming flagship SoC lineup could thus consist of the SM8850 (Snapdragon 8 Elite 2/Elite Gen 2), SM8845 (Snapdragon 8 Gen 5), and perhaps the SM8850s (Samsung-made Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2). If you aren’t already confused by Qualcomm’s naming scheme, brace yourself, as it looks to only get worse.

The leaker doesn’t say this, but since the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 is positioned a step or two below the 8 Elite 2, it could become the de facto choice for the flagship killer segment, especially in the absence of a Snapdragon 8s Gen 5. However, given how Qualcomm prices its SoC to Android OEMs, there’s a chance this switch could make flagship killers more expensive, at which point they may as well become standard flagships.