Qualcomm’s Next Snapdragon Chipset Is Off To a Poor Start

Qualcomm doesn’t seem to have quite figured out the naming scheme for its last few Snapdragon chips. Now, after the release of the Snapdragon 8 Elite, next year’s chip will most certainly be a mouthful, as things are all up in the air now.

Ahead of the upcoming yearly Snapdragon Summit, where Qualcomm will show off its latest innovations, the company has confirmed the existence of its next flagship chip, and it’s called *drumroll* the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Yes, this is not a joke. After the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the Snapdragon 8 Elite came, and now it looks like Qualcomm is just merging both naming schemes in a move that would almost certainly make Sony proud. There was no Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 this year, so the Snapdragon 8 Elite just informally filled that slot being this year’s top-tier smartphone chip. Now, the naming scheme appears to be more confusing than ever. It’s succeeding the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 that didn’t exist, or it ate Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 through 5.

The explanation Qualcomm is giving for this doesn’t hold up too well and feels too generic, but from reading it, we can gather that one of Qualcomm’s objectives with doing this is to provide a clearer understanding of its place within the Snapdragon family. Trying to bring the naming scheme for chipsets from all its tiers together, in a way. This makes sense, but my problem, personally, is the Elite moniker.

According to the company, the “Elite” moniker is reserved for Qualcomm’s most powerful and innovative products. The bigger problem here, in my opinion, is that it implies the existence of a weaker Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, and I’m not sure that’s on Qualcomm’s books. The only thing we had this year, other than the Snapdragon 8 Elite, was the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, which sits in an awkward spot. There could be a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 in the works, but then again, we’ll have to wait and see. Of course, it could be announced later, just like it’s usually the case with other Snapdragon chips. If you use the special “Elite” moniker as your only brand, is it really that elite?

As a reminder, the Snapdragon 8 Elite had a custom-designed Qualcomm Oryon CPU that meant a significant performance increase. If it builds upon what it has already done, Qualcomm could have a winner here. The chip is expected to power most 2026 flagships, including, but not limited to, next year’s Samsung Galaxy S26 series as well as the Galaxy Z Flip 8 and Z Fold 8.

We’re sure it will be a great chip. I’m just baffled at the naming.

Source: Qualcomm