Qualcomm’s new chip means you don’t need a flagship phone to use cutting-edge AI tools

Qualcomm revealed Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip In September to run the absolute upper class Android phones It will be released in 2026. The $900 OnePlus 15 It was launched this month and is the first phone available with the new chip in the United States. Now, the company is introducing a new chip — the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 — for phones that need less digital horsepower at a lower cost, resulting in cheaper but still powerful phones.

Qualcomm typically offers multiple versions of its chips at different performance levels and prices to suit phone makers’ needs. Even within the cream of the crop — Phones Which cost $700 or more – companies may choose a less powerful, and presumably less expensive, chip to power their lower-priced devices. This could include phones like the just-announced OnePlus 15R, which has no price but follows other R-series phones that have slightly less impressive specs and cost less than their premium siblings.

The new Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 has a complex lineage, but Qualcomm sees it as a follow-up to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 Snapdragon 8 3rd generationwhich will be released in 2023 – which is why the company has only released comparable numbers for that 2023 segment. The main upgrade between the two is that the new 8th Gen 5 has the company’s Oryon CPU with 36% improved performance and 42% better power efficiency compared to the 8th Gen 3. In comparison, the new chip’s GPU has 11% greater performance and 28% better power efficiency compared to the previous GPU.

The Oryon CPU in the 8 Gen 5 enables AI agent features, such as contextual suggestions based on personal data, which debuted in the Snapdragon 8 Elite phone chip last year and continued in the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. The company introduced the “Elite” moniker to describe it as the new highest level of performance. The 8 Gen 5’s CPU clocks at 3.8GHz, while the 8 Elite Gen 5 tops out at 4.6GHz, showing a clear gap in capability — but other than that, Qualcomm hasn’t released performance numbers for how the 8 Gen 5 compares to its top-chip sibling.

Regardless, 5G will power flagship phones from companies like OnePlus, Qualcomm said in a press release. The first devices using the chip will be launched in the coming weeks, which will likely include the OnePlus 15R which the phone manufacturer has confirmed will launch on December 17. OnePlus’ R series phones were slightly less powerful than their flagship counterparts but were priced lower as a result. For example, OnePlus 13R (powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 3) released in January was less powerful than OnePlus 13 But also $300 cheaper at launch.