In Short:
Qualcomm launched its new Snapdragon 8 Elite chip at the 2024 Summit in Maui. The first smartphone to use this chip will be Xiaomi’s upcoming flagship, the Xiaomi 15, set to unveil by the end of October. This new chip promises improved performance and 29.7% better energy efficiency. Other upcoming phones using the Snapdragon 8 Elite include OnePlus 13 and Asus ROG Phone 9.
Qualcomm has introduced the Snapdragon 8 Elite, the latest system-on-chip (SoC), during its Summit 2024 event held in Maui on Monday. In the course of the keynote session, Xiaomi’s Senior Vice President, Adam Zeng, announced that the upcoming Xiaomi 15 will be the first smartphone globally to feature this advanced chipset. The successor to the Xiaomi 14 is set to be unveiled by the end of this month.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC is manufactured using TSMC’s cutting-edge 3nm process technology and boasts prime cores that can reach frequencies of up to 4.32GHz. During the event, Zeng highlighted that the Xiaomi 15 would harness the capabilities of this new SoC, which includes a dedicated Hexagon neural processing unit (NPU), a second-generation custom-built Qualcomm Oryon CPU, and an upgraded AI image signal processing (ISP) unit.
Technological Enhancements and Efficiency
The Xiaomi 15 will integrate Snapdragon 8 Elite along with Xiaomi’s revolutionary HyperCore technology. Zeng noted that this combination enhances performance across graphics, networking, and security domains. Notably, this integration is projected to reduce the Xiaomi 15’s power consumption by approximately 29.7 percent, and the device is expected to operate 3 degrees Celsius cooler at peak temperatures compared to its predecessors.
Launch Timeline
Zeng also confirmed that the Xiaomi 15 series will officially launch “at the end of October.” In addition to the Xiaomi 15 series, other devices such as the OnePlus 13, set to debut on October 31, and the Asus ROG Phone 9, expected to launch in November, are also confirmed to utilize the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip.
Significantly, the Xiaomi 15 will be the first smartphone available in global markets, outside China, to showcase the capabilities of the new chipset. In India, the Realme GT 7 Pro has been confirmed as the first phone to feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
