Recently, Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, expanding its flagship product lineup to empower the next generation of new mobile experiences. The new products are manufactured using TSMC's 2nm process, with core frequencies reaching up to 5GHz.
According to foreign media reports, Qualcomm is accelerating the development of a new Snapdragon chip codenamed "Honu," indicating that it does not intend to slow down. Its model number is SM8A75, which may belong to the seventh-generation Snapdragon 8, with a target frequency increased to 5.3GHz to 5.4GHz, thereby delivering stronger single-core performance. Qualcomm is likely to continue using TSMC's N2P process, with power consumption levels comparable to the sixth-generation Snapdragon 8 series, and an expected IPC increase of less than 10%.
If this is true, then the next-generation Snapdragon 8 is more like a minor optimization and improvement based on the sixth-generation Snapdragon 8. Constrained by power consumption and heat generation, it will be difficult for Qualcomm to further increase frequencies without better packaging and cooling solutions. Considering the current prices of flagship SoCs and memory, such performance improvements are unlikely to generate significant interest among Android smartphone manufacturers.
Manufacturers such as Xiaomi, vivo, Red Magic, REDMI, OPPO, OnePlus, Motorola, iQOO, and Honor are all adopting the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 in their flagship products, but currently only the Xiaomi 18 Pro series is available for sale.