Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 debuts with 3 nm Oryon cores, Adreno 840, 46% faster AI and X80 5G. See specs, gains vs Gen 3, and first phones: OnePlus Ace 6T.
© D. Novikov
Qualcomm has officially unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, a more affordable take on the top-tier Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Despite the friendlier price positioning, the newcomer keeps most of the flagship’s core technologies, bringing true high-end performance to devices in the mid-price segment.
Built on a 3 nm process, the chip features third‑generation Qualcomm Oryon cores: two performance cores clocked at 3.8 GHz and six additional cores at 3.32 GHz. According to the company, Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 outpaces Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 by 36% in computing tasks, 11% in graphics, and 46% in AI, while also improving power efficiency. The uplift is notable across the board, with the AI gains in particular hinting at where the platform is headed.
Graphics are handled by the Adreno 840 with the company’s Frame Motion Engine 3.0. Unlike the Elite version, the Gen 5 omits the Adreno High Performance Memory module. The Hexagon NPU is 46% faster for AI workloads and supports local multimodal scenarios. The chip also integrates a Qualcomm Spectra image signal processor and an X80 5G modem—the same unit used in Snapdragon 8 Elite—suggesting little compromise on connectivity.
The first smartphone powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 will be the OnePlus Ace 6T (also known as the OnePlus 15R). Models from iQOO, Motorola, and vivo are expected to follow soon, pointing to a brisk rollout across major brands.