Qualcomm’s next flagship smartphone chips are already showing what the next generation of Android performance could look like. Early benchmark testing of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 points to noticeable gains in graphics performance, while CPU improvements appear more measured.
The new chips are built using a 2nm process and feature Qualcomm’s latest Oryon CPU architecture. The platform also pushes into new territory with CPU speeds of up to 5GHz, alongside upgrades to graphics, AI processing and connectivity.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Benchmark Results
The hands-on testing reported by BGR was performed on a Qualcomm reference device running the higher-end Elite Extreme model. In Geekbench 6, it achieved an average score of 4,287 in single-core and 12,791 in multi-core.
For comparison, the RedMagic 11S Pro running Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 reached 3,815 single-core and 12,148 multi-core in the same testing. The results suggest that the biggest CPU improvement is in single-core performance, while multi-core gains are considerably smaller.
The GPU results are more interesting. In 3DMark Wild Life Extreme, the Elite Extreme reached scores between 9,830 and 9,984 on its best test loops. That represents a substantial improvement over the tested Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 devices.
Qualcomm is also introducing new graphics technology, including Adreno Neural Fusion, hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-based graphics features. These improvements could be particularly useful for demanding mobile games and future AI-enhanced graphics workloads.
What About the Standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6?
There is an important detail to keep in mind. The available hands-on benchmark figures are for the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, rather than the regular Elite Gen 6.
Both versions share the 2nm manufacturing process and 5GHz Oryon CPU architecture, but the Extreme version has additional GPU and AI hardware. Qualcomm says the standard Elite is designed to deliver the next generation of flagship performance without all of the Extreme model’s top-end capabilities.
Real-World Phone Performance Still Matters
These benchmark numbers are promising, but they should not be treated as final results for every Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 phone. Reference devices are designed specifically for testing, while commercial smartphones have different cooling systems, software and power limits.
The real test will begin when phones from brands such as OnePlus, Samsung, Xiaomi, HONOR and others arrive with the new chips. Qualcomm has confirmed that multiple major smartphone brands are preparing devices using the new Snapdragon platforms.
For now, the early results suggest that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 family is putting particular emphasis on graphics, AI and efficiency, while the Extreme model could become a major option for high-performance Android phones.