C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The primary main Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 3 leak suggests Qualcomm may provide two variations of the chip, akin to Apple.
- The leaker additionally asserts that 2027’s flagship telephones may very well be dearer resulting from the price of the chipset.
- It additionally seems like commonplace flagship telephones may use a much less succesful flagship Snapdragon processor.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite powers loads of great Android phones at present, however we’ve already seen some Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 leaks. Now, it seems like we’ve bought our first Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 3 processor leak.
Digital Chat Station on Weibo reviews that the Qualcomm SM8950 chipset, anticipated to be the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 3, is perhaps obtainable in “twin variations.” The leaker tentatively calls the much less succesful chip the SM8945 and likens this association to Apple’s A and A Professional chips utilized in its iPhones.
As a refresher, the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus ship with the A18 processor, whereas the iPhone 16 Professional and Professional Max use the A18 Professional chipset. The 2 processors share the identical CPU, however the A18 Professional provides extra cache and a extra succesful GPU.
Qualcomm will reportedly use TSMC’s 2nm manufacturing course of for these chips, however there may be some unhealthy information. The tipster says the price of this chip has “soared” and that new flagship telephones launched from the tip of 2026 will see a worth enhance.
This worth hike apparently means the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 3 may not be utilized in commonplace flagship telephones. As an alternative, the “SM8945” chip is perhaps utilized in these fashions whereas extra premium gadgets get the full-blown Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 3. In different phrases, telephones just like the Galaxy S27 and Xiaomi 17 may have much less spectacular efficiency than their Plus/Professional/Extremely counterparts.
Qualcomm hasn’t revealed the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 but, by no means thoughts the Gen 3 chipset. So it’s attainable that issues may change between now and the late 2026 launch window.
