Qualcomm confirms Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 for Nov 26, 2025. Orion cores, 2+6 CPU, Adreno 840. First phones: OnePlus Ace 6T, vivo S50, X Fold 6; China first.
© RusPhotoBank
Qualcomm has officially set the launch date for its new flagship chipset, Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. The company had initially planned to unveil it alongside the 8 Elite Gen 5, but pushed the debut back by a few weeks. Now the date is locked: the presentation will take place on November 26, 2025, with the rollout starting in China. The staggered approach feels pragmatic.
The first smartphones expected to use the processor are already lining up—among them the OnePlus Ace 6T, as well as the vivo S50 and vivo X Fold 6. The platform will expand to other global markets afterward.
Architecturally, Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 sits close to the Elite variant. It adopts a 2+6 layout, with performance cores clocked at 3.8 GHz and efficiency cores at 3.36 GHz. The graphics unit is the familiar Adreno 840, likely running at lower frequencies.
The headline change: this is the first Qualcomm chip in the non-elite lineup built on the company’s own Orion cores rather than Arm Cortex, as seen in the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4. Qualcomm has not specified whether the core structure matches the 8 Elite Gen 5. It’s a meaningful shift for the mainstream tier.