Android Authority poll: buyers prefer Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 over Elite for balanced performance, cooler operation, better price, and enough power for 2026 phones.
© A. Krivonosov
Smartphones, much like cars, don’t always need everything turned up to the max. A recent user poll from Android Authority about the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 makes that point. Despite Qualcomm offering the even more powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, many respondents see it as overkill for everyday tasks.
Introduced about a month ago, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 is positioned as a middle ground in Qualcomm’s lineup. It’s a 3 nm chip that borrows some technologies from the Elite version but pairs them with more modest specs and, crucially, a more attractive price. It clearly outpaces the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, yet doesn’t try to seize the absolute performance crown.
To see how buyers view that trade-off, roughly 5,500 people took part in a survey. Nearly half said they fully support the idea behind the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 and consider it the optimal pick for their next phone. The rest split into camps: some still want the fastest chip regardless of price; others doubt the savings are worth the performance drop; a third group prefers to wait for real hardware and testing.
Many comments point out that most users simply don’t tap the potential of the flagship Elite chips. Even in resource-heavy scenarios the difference is rarely felt, and in day-to-day use it’s almost invisible. Power draw matters too: while the Elite Gen 5 has been criticized for running hot, people still see value in a less aggressive take on a flagship processor.
In the end, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 comes across not as a compromise for the sake of saving money, but as a deliberate choice in favor of balance. If that sentiment sticks, chips like this could form the backbone of the most popular Android flagships in 2026. The takeaway is hard to miss: many buyers increasingly favor well-judged performance over sheer excess.