The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 was announced in September, and Qualcomm quickly followed it up with another chip release — the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. The newer chip also features Oryon cores, but doesn’t bear the “Elite” moniker for some reason.

Besides the weird naming scheme, Qualcomm weirdly compared the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 to a two-year-old 8 Gen 3 chip rather than the Snapdragon 8 Elite at the chip announcement. So, where does the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 settle into the Snapdragon 8-series? Can it beat the Snapdragon 8 Elite? Let’s dig deeper into the benchmark scores and key differences to figure it out.

	Snapdragon 8 Gen 5	Snapdragon 8 Elite
Announced	November 2025	October 2024
Process node	TSMC’s 3nm (N3P)	TSMC’s 3nm (N3E)
CPU cores	8-core	8-core
CPU cores	2 x 3.8 GHz — Oryon (3rd gen) 6 x 3.32 GHz — Oryon (3rd gen)	2 x 4.32GHz — Oryon (2nd gen) 6 x 3.53GHz — Oryon (2nd gen)
GPU	Qualcomm Adreno GPU Ray tracing support Snapdragon Elite Gaming features	Qualcomm Adreno 830 GPU Ray tacing support Snapdragon Elite Gaming features
NPU	Qualcomm Hexagon NPU Agentic AI support	Qualcomm Hexagon NPU
Memory	LPDDR5X, up to 4.8 GHz	LPDDR5X, up to 5.3 GHz
Storage	UFS 4.1	UFS 4.0
Camera	Qualcomm Spectra Triple ISP (20-bit) Up to 320MP single camera up to 108MP single camera with zero shutter lag Up to 48MP triple cameras with zero shutter lag real-time semantic segmentation (limitless) 4K/120fps video recording 1080p/480fps slow-mo video recording	Qualcomm Spectra Triple ISP (18-bit) up to 320MP single camera up to 108MP single camera with zero shutter lag up to 48MP triple cameras with zero shutter lag limitless real-time semantic segmentation (up to 250 layers) 8K/30fps video recording 1080p/480fps slow-mo video recording
Connectivity	Snapdragon X80 5G modem Download speed: 10 Gbps (peak) Upload speed: 3.5 Gbps (peak) Wi-Fi 7 (peak speed: 5.8 Gbps) Bluetooth 6.0	Snapdragon X80 5G modem download speed: up to 10 Gbps upload speed: up to 3.5 Gbps Wi-Fi 7 (peak speed: 5.8 Gbps) Bluetooth 6.0

Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 vs Snapdragon 8 Elite: Benchmark score

We are yet to see a smartphone with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip in the global market. However, the unreleased OnePlus 15R was recently spotted on Geekbench with a single-core score of 2,784 and a multi-core score of 9,329.

The Realme GT 7 Pro, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, pulls higher scores: 3122 in the single-core test and 9507 in the multi-core test. That’s about a 12% increase in the single-core score, but a modest 2% gain in multi-core performance.

	Single core	Multi core
Snapdragon 8 Gen 5	2,784	9,329
Snapdragon 8 Elite	3,122	9,507

So, the newer Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 can’t match the Snapdragon 8 Elite’s performance despite featuring the latest Oryon cores. The reason is lower CPU speed and the lack of high-bandwidth memory. We’ll learn about more key differences below.

Note: We’ll update the section with benchmark scores from additional platforms, including 3DMark and AnTuTu, once we have tested a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 smartphone.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 vs Snapdragon 8 Elite: Key differences that matter

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 is fabbed using TSMC’s 3nm (N3P) process, which offers slightly better performance compared to TSMC’s 3nm (N3E) process used for the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

The CPUs also bring several important differentiations. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 has third-gen Oryon cores, while the 8 Elite features second-gen Oryon cores. The (2 prime + 6 performance) core setup is there on both chips, but the Elite chip benefits from much higher clock speeds.

The GPU differences aren’t very clear. Qualcomm hasn’t announced which Adreno GPU is inside the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. However, according to recent leaks, it’s Adreno 840, the same GPU inside the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, but with a lower peak frequency and a trimmed-down version of the sliced GPU architecture.

In contrast, the Snapdragon 8 Elite features an Adreno 830 GPU. It’s difficult to say which chip has the more powerful GPU without testing the device or reviewing the benchmarks. We’ll run gaming-specific benchmarks once we get the device and update the article.

The connectivity aspect doesn’t bring any differences, as both feature the same X80 5G modem with up to 10Gbps download speeds, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 6.0. The cameras bring several differences, though. The 8 Gen 5 features a 20-bit AI ISP, which offers a more usable dynamic range and smoother gradients compared to the 18-bit ISP used in the 8 Elite chip.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite allows up to 8K/30fps video recording, the newer 8 Gen 5 chip peaks at 4K/120fps. While this may seem a downgrade, it isn’t. The 4K/120fps is more practical for users than 8K. The latter is more of a marketing spec. Even the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 supports up to 4K/120fps recording, not pushing to 8K.

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