Qualcomm has officially confirmed what the leaks were saying all along. The chipmaker appears ready to expand its flagship Snapdragon lineup this year, with a teaser pointing to two new chips arriving at the Snapdragon Summit 2026. The company says consumers should expect “Dual 8 Elites”, with improvements to connectivity, cameras and gaming across both processors.
The Snapdragon Summit will take place from September 22nd to 24th in Maui, Hawaii, where Qualcomm is expected to reveal more about its next generation of flagship silicon.
Expected key differences
Qualcomm’s teaser does not name the processors, but recent leaks point to a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and a higher-end Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro. Both are expected to use a 2nm manufacturing process and next-generation Oryon CPU cores in a 2+3+3 configuration.
The next chapter of the agentic AI era begins at #SnapdragonSummit.
— Snapdragon (@Snapdragon) August 19, 2026
When Two Changes the Game. See the reveal on September 22. pic.twitter.com/4S1SSvJ1fk
Based on leaks, the standard chip is tipped to feature an Adreno 845 GPU with 12MB of graphics cache, while the Pro could get an Adreno 850 with 18MB. The Pro is also expected to support LPDDR6 RAM, compared with LPDDR5X on the regular variant, along with UFS 5.0 storage and Qualcomm’s new X105 modem.
Leaked information also points to a 5.0GHz-or-higher clock speed for the Pro, potentially helped by advanced cooling technology. An AnTuTu 11 result of around 4.83 million points has surfaced for the chip. That is only around a 5 percent improvement over the roughly 4-4.6 million points seen from the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in some tests, although leaked benchmark results from unfinished hardware aren’t a reliable measure of final performance.
The Pro could also introduce features such as AI Frame Fusion, which may allow games to render at lower resolutions and upscale frames to improve efficiency without sacrificing smoothness.
Qualcomm’s decision to split its flagship platform into two tiers may have economic sense behind it. Smartphone prices have been climbing, with even sub-flagship and entry-premium models increasingly starting above Rs 60,000 in India. A regular Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 could therefore give brands a way to build acceptable standard flagships in the Rs 70,000 – Rs 80,000 range without pushing component costs too high. The Pro, meanwhile, could be reserved for Ultra-level flagships, gaming phones and high-end foldables where buyers are already paying a premium. This approach would manufacturers greater flexibility in pricing and positioning, which is what OEMs have been struggling with during the higher memory cost component crisis plaguing the industry.
For buyers, a standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 phone should still deliver flagship-class performance, making it the more sensible choice for most users. The Pro’s advantages may matter more to gamers, power users and buyers considering devices such as the Xiaomi 18 Pro/Pro Max, Samsung’s Galaxy S27 Ultra or iQOO’s new compact tablet, where features like faster memory, graphics performance and connectivity can better justify the higher price.
Qualcomm is expected to confirm the names, specifications and devices for both chips at the Snapdragon Summit in September.
