Tablets are faster than ever before, and at the heart of this improvement is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite. Borrowing the powerful chipset from flagship smartphones, the 8 Elite powers premium tablets from various brands, promising not just faster performance but smarter efficiency and next-gen AI capabilities. But does this chip truly move the needle for tablets? From productivity to gaming, here’s a quick breakdown of what makes the Snapdragon 8 Elite special and why it could be a defining platform for high end tablets.

What’s Under the Hood: A Performance and Efficiency Beast

At its core, the Snapdragon 8 Elite brings a substantial evolution over its predecessors. Built on TSMC’s 3nm process with Qualcomm’s custom Oryon CPU architecture, it offers a significant uplift in raw processing power. Compared to its predecessor, it offers up to a 45 percent jump in CPU performance, while also cutting power consumption.

This all-new architecture isn’t just about peak performance. It’s designed so that tablets can sustain heavier workloads like editing and gaming. For tablet users, that means apps and services feel snappier and more responsive across the board.

Gaming and Graphics

One of the most striking advancements of the Elite platform is its Adreno GPU. With roughly 40 % faster graphical performance and enhanced efficiency, it brings console-like visuals to mobile devices. Games that once struggled on tablets can now run at higher fidelity, smoother frame rates, and with improved hardware accelerated ray-tracing support. This marks a real level-up for tablets that double as portable gaming rigs.

For Android tablets, this isn’t just about benchmarks. It’s about delivering deeper, richer experiences in high fidelity titles. Fans of esports titles like COD Mobile can now hit triple digit frame rate, which translates to a more smoother gameplay experience that gives a competitive edge.

Smarter Tablets Through On-Device AI

Apart from just raw speed, the Snapdragon 8 Elite flexes its AI prowess. The Hexagon Neural Processing Unit (NPU) is dramatically more capable, offering up to 45 percent faster AI performance per watt than previous generations. What does this mean in practice? Expect more responsive voice assistants, enhanced real-time language translation, smarter photography, and on-device generative AI that doesn’t require the cloud. Tablet makers can leverage this for everything from adaptive UI features to smarter multitasking.

Real-World Impact

Tablets like the OnePlus Pad 3 show how the Snapdragon 8 Elite translates in the real world. Beyond benchmarks, users benefit from fast app switching, lightning-quick rendering of complex spreadsheets, and creative workflows that don’t bog down under load.

The chipset also plays nicely with larger RAM configurations and UFS 4.0 storage, ensuring fast loading and efficient caching of big files. Combined with big batteries on modern tablets, this means sustained performance over hours of use.

For more daily updates, please visit our News Section.

Don’t miss a thing! Join our Telegram community for instant updates and grab our free daily newsletter for the best tech stories!

The post How Snapdragon 8 Elite is Raising the Bar for Tablets appeared first on Gizmochina.

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.

Stay up-to-date with the latest chip breakthroughs and major headlines in tech! Join our Telegram community for instant updates and grab our free daily newsletter!

The post Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 vs Snapdragon 8 Elite: Benchmarks, spec sheet, and more appeared first on Gizmochina.