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The war of mobile chipsets is about to reach a fever pitch in late 2025 as Qualcomm gets ready to launch its most sophisticated system-on-chip (SoC) to date — the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2. Aimed squarely at Apple’s next A19 chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is Qualcomm’s performance, efficiency, and AI-powered jump forward. Fabricated on the leading-edge TSMC N3P process node, this chip will likely drive Android flagships from late 2025 well into 2026. Here’s a full rundown of how it compares technically and where it stands in the greater semiconductor context.
Fabrication Process: TSMC 3nm N3P
The key to the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2’s anticipated performance boost is its fabrication process — TSMC 3nm N3P, an optimized iteration of its 3 nm-class technology. TSMC 3nm N3P provides enhancements to the initial N3 (implemented in Apple’s A17 Pro) in terms of performance-per-watt and transistor density.
TSMC asserts N3P provides:
- *5-10% more performance at equal power,
- up to 15% reduced power consumption at equal performance, and
- 1.04x logic density improvement over N3.
This provides Qualcomm with a huge jump in transistor budget and power efficiency, enabling it to cram more computational and graphics horsepower into an equivalent thermal envelope.
CPU Architecture: Armv9 with SVE2 and SME
The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is likely to take advantage of ARM’s Cortex-X5, Cortex-A730, and Cortex-A520 cores, organized in a new 1+5+2 tri-cluster architecture. This is a probable configuration:
- 1x Cortex-X5 Prime Core@ 3.8 GHz (expected)
- 5x Cortex-A730 Performance Cores
- 2x Cortex-A520 Efficiency Cores
This configuration optimizes task distribution and power efficiency, with heavy-demand tasks being directed to the X5 and performance cores, and background and system processes managed by efficiency cores.
Critically, the incorporation of Armv9 instruction set, in addition to SVE2 (Scalable Vector Extension 2) and SME (Scalable Matrix Extension), implies a considerable boost in SIMD operations and machine learning performance — an increasing point of competition for mobile SoCs.
GPU: Adreno 840 — Real-Time Ray Tracing and Vulkan 1.3
On the graphics side, Qualcomm is reportedly launching the Adreno 840 GPU, a big step up from the Adreno 750 used in the last generation. Rumors indicate as much as 35% enhanced rendering performance and *full real-time ray tracing support at playable frame rates — a capability that introduces console-quality lighting realism to mobile.
Important GPU upgrades are:
- Vulkan 1.3 and OpenGL ES 3.2 support
- Real-time Global Illumination
- Improved variable rate shading (VRS)
- **Hardware ray tracing, perhaps enhanced from Gen 1 RT cores
Benchmarking, if unverified, indicates that the Adreno 840 may now catch up to Apple’s previously dominant in-house GPUs, whose advantage comes from close integration with iOS.
AI and NPU: Hexagon 990 NPU + Sensing Hub
Qualcomm’s AI Engine, fueled by the Hexagon 990 NPU, is said to achieve up to 80 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) — close to doubling the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s AI engine performance. This makes the Elite 2 a powerful AI processor for on-device generative models, live translation, sophisticated image processing, and beyond.
Most important AI improvements:
- Native support for INT4/INT8 precision
- Support for multi-modal transformer models (text, vision, audio)
- Integrated with the 2nd-gen Sensing Hub for always-on low-power tasks (e.g., keyword detection, environment sensing)
This aggressive AI push positions Qualcomm well to address the increasing demand for on-device generative AI applications, particularly as Android OEMs incorporate models such as Gemini Nano and LLaVA into mobile UIs.
Modem and Connectivity: Snapdragon X75
The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is poised to feature the Snapdragon X75 5G modem, the globe’s first to offer 5G Advanced (Rel. 18) support. It incorporates a new AI-powered beam management system, enhancing mmWave and sub-6GHz performance in dynamic environments.
Highlights
- Up to 10 Gbps peak download speeds
- Antenna tuning with AI
- Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 full support
- Dual Bluetooth antenna system integrated to provide lower latency
These attributes make the chipset future-proof for future 5G rollouts and smart home installations.
Competing against Apple A19
Apple’s A19 chip, also said to be based on TSMC’s N3P node, will drive the iPhone 17 lineup. Apple is famous for industry-leading single-threaded CPU and GPU performance due to its vertical integration and proprietary core designs. Nevertheless, Qualcomm is bridging the gap with its progressively aggressive designs and wider platform support.
Whereas A19 will probably carry on Apple’s performance dominance in some synthetic benchmarks, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 can outperform it in aggregate AI throughput, gaming prowess (thanks to better ray tracing support), and connectivity.
Moreover, Qualcomm’s larger ecosystem of Android OEMs — Samsung through to Xiaomi to OnePlus — will mean the Elite 2 ships to a wider range of types of devices, such as foldables, gaming phones, and tablets.
Expected Launch and Adoption
Qualcomm is set to officially launch the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 during its annual Snapdragon Summit in early October 2025. Devices with the chip are expected to ship commercially in late Q4 2025, with initial shipments possibly emanating from Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra, Xiaomi 15 Pro, and ASUS ROG Phone 9.
With its lofty specifications, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is poised to be a highlight of high-end Android hardware in 2026.
Conclusion
The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is Qualcomm’s most aggressive push so far to topple Apple in the mobile silicon realm. Through the cutting-edge N3P node, next-generation Arm cores, and AI-first architecture, it promises revolutionary performance in legacy workloads as well as nascent AI workloads. Although Apple’s A19 is still a worthy opponent, the gap is decreasing — and for Android users, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 heralds a mighty new era of mobile computing.
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