Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Announced
Qualcomm held their Snapdragon Summit 2026 this week, and as in years prior, the top of the line Snapdragon SoC was announced.
This year we get two chips, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6. The new chips bring a lot of new features, upgrades, and of course AI. If you do not include AI in your product, are you even trying?
First some bad news. Unlike last year, Sony is not mentioned in the press release. The only manufacturer information in the press release was about upcoming debuting devices, meaning products debuting in the next 3-4 months. Here is the excerpt from the press release:
Devices powered by Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 will debut in flagship smartphones from leading global OEMs and smartphone brands, including HONOR, iQOO, Motorola, OnePlus, OPPO, REDMI, RedMagic, vivo, and Xiaomi.
The press release this uses “will debut, where as last year, the press release used “will be featured”, with a list of various manufacturers, including Sony. Unlike last year, we have no confirmation that Sony will use the new Gen 6 chips. Samsung is also missing from the list, but no one would bet against Samsung not using the new chips. There is always a possibility that certain manufacturers did not want their names revealed by the press release, so they were left out.
I am sure Sony will use one of the 2 new Gen 6 chips, question is which one. My guess, the regular Elite Gen 6 rather than the Extreme version, due to the higher cost of the latter. My assumption is based off Sony trying to mitigate rising costs in an ever increasing price environment, like keeping the same Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 in the 10 VIII for example.
With that aside, time to look the new Gen 6 and compare it to the previous Gen 5.
New and improved CPU
The new Gen 6 chips will be manufactured on a 2nm advanced process node from TSMC. There are rumours that Qualcomm could make use of Samsung’s 2nm line as their yields increase, but nothing is confirmed right now. Gen 5 used a 3nm node from TSMC. According to Qualcomm, the change from 3 to 2nm should bring an overall power savings of around 10%.
Both Gen 6 chips use Qualcomm’s 4th generation Oryon CPU, compared to the 3rd generation in the Gen 5. The Gen 6 is the first mobile processor to hit 5 GHz.
| Gen 6 | Gen 5 | |
| Prime cores | 2 x 5.0 GHz | 2 x 4.6 Ghz |
| Performance cores | 3 x 4 GHz | 3 x 3.6 GHz |
| Performance cores | 3 x 3.5 GHz | 3x 3.6 GHz |
The new 4th gen Oryon CPU has a 13% performance improvement, 37% improved power efficiency, and 15% faster responsiveness, as compared to the 3rd gen Oryon CPU. These figures are for the Extreme Gen 6, with the regular Elite Gen 6 only offering a 10% performance improvement, but the same 37% improved power efficiency. I think it is a decent year-on-year improvement, with the power efficiency the major news here.
“Rearchitected” Graphics
The Adreno GPU has been “rearchitected” according to Qualcomm, offering 44% improved performance (35% Elite Gen 6), and 40% improved power efficiency. Supposedly the Extreme Gen 6 uses the Adreno 850, and while not confirmed, the Elite Gen 6 will be using an Adreno 845. The product brief for the Extreme Gen 6 describes the GPU as the “New Adreno Neural Fusion”, which is using AI to “deliver intelligent graphics for more immersive gameplay, richer visuals, and longer playtime.”. The Elite Gen 6 is missing this Neural Fusion in its product brief, so perhaps is also lacking any AI features.
From the specifications, the Extreme Gen 6 seems like a chip for gaming smartphones, and top tier premium devices. Whether this includes the upcoming Xperia IX, I do not know. The current Xperia VIII is €1500, and with increasing cost and pricing of various components, the nest Xperia 1 IX could easily start closer to €1800. The 10 VIII received a €150 price for a device more or less identical to last year’s model, suggesting any upgrades on the Xperia 1 IX will easily raise the price by more than €150.
So Sony could choose the less expensive Elite Gen 6, but we have no information on the price difference between the 2 chips. Qualcomm already stated that they would increase pricing of their chips by double digits, would could mean a price closer to $300 USD per chip, if not higher. Difficult times ahead for sure.
It would be great to see the Extreme Gen 6 in the new Xperia 1 IX, but if that drives the price of the new model to €1999, then it may kill any momentum the 1 VIII started. My current laptop did not even cost this much.
More AI for you sir
The Qualcomm Hexagon NPU has the same specifications for both the Gen 6 chips, with the Extreme version offering a 50% larger shared memory.
- New Element Accelerator
- 12 scalar + 8 vector + 1 tensor + 1 element configuration
- Hexagon Direct Link
- Micro Tile Inferencingy
- 64-bit memory virtualization
Compared to the Gen 5, the Elite Gen 6 has a 14% improved NPU performance, and 20% improved AI performance-per-watt, with the Extreme Gen 6 increasing these figures to 35% improved NPU performance and 33% improved AI performance- per-watt. Overall decent increases for those fans of AI.
Faster Modem
Both Gen 6 chips use the same new Qualcomm X105 5G Modem, offering a peak download of 14.8 Gbps and peak upload of 4.2 Gbps. The Gen 5 used Qualcomm’s X85 5G Modem with peak download of 12.5 Gbps and peak upload of 3.7 Gbps.
Say hello to Wi-Fi 8
The Wi-Fi has been upgraded to Qualcomm’s FastConnect 8800, compared to the Gen 5’s FastConnect 7900. Below is a comparison.
| Qualcomm FastConnect 8800 | |
| Peak Speed | 11.65 Gbps |
| Generation | Wi-Fi 8, Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi 6 |
| Standards | 802.11a, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11b, 802.11be, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11bn |
| Spectral Bands | 6 GHz, 5 GHz, 2.4 GHz |
| Qualcomm FastConnect 7900 | |
| Peak Speed | 5.8 Gbps |
| Generation | Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi 7 |
| Standards | 802.11a, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11b, 802.11be, 802.11g, 802.11n |
| Spectral Bands | 6 GHz, 5 GHz, 2.4 GHz |
Notice that the new FastConnect 8800 has Wi-Fi 8 support, even though the specification for Wi-Fi 8 has not been finalized.
The arrival of HDT
The Bluetooth in Gen 6 is still version 6.0, including support for LE Audio, but the newest addition is Bluetooth High Data Throughput or HDT. This is rather puzzling as the new spec for HDT has not been finalized. Perhaps it is the same as with Wi-Fi, when a chip was said to be Wi-Fi 6 or 7 ready.
Qualcomm does sit on the Bluetooth SIG board of directors, so perhaps they have inside knowledge of the final HDT spec. and set their chips up to that spec. Just a thought.
Improved Imaging
In the camera department, the new Gen 6 now supports up to three 64MP sensors with zero shutter lag. The single camera is still 108MP with zero shutter lag, and photo capture is still capped at 320MP. 1080p slow-motion video capture has been increased to 960fps, twice the rate of Gen 5. The Extreme Gen 6 adds 8K60 and 4K240, with Elite Gen 6 only supporting 8K30 and 4K120.
Quick charge has not changed, with Gen 6 and Gen 5 both supporting Qualcomm Quick Charge 5 technology.
The Extreme Gen 6 also adds support for UFS 5.0.
I think that about covers it in terms of the various improvements and changes. I may have missed some things, so check out the product pages for the new and old chips to compare them.
It is unfortunate that the press release did not mention Sony as an upcoming device partner, so it will be some time before we actually see any news/leaks regarding this information. No doubt sites will post rumours and leaks, but few will have any credence. What is certain is a price increase once the new Xperia 1 IX is announced next year.
The new model did appearance on the GSMA IMEI database much earlier than previous generations, but whether this means it will be announced earlier, I do not know. The past Xperia 1 models were announced around to the 3rd week of May, so Sony as a creature of habit, might just stick to this pattern, implying a Xperia 1 XI announcement on May 12/13 2027.
