Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chip to launch earlier than usual: Report

Qualcomm, one of the world's leading smartphone chipset manufacturers, is reportedly launching its flagship chipset a little earlier than usual this year. The chipset, likely to be named Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, is expected to be launched in September 2025, according to a report coming out of China.

Last year, the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset came out in October, which was already earlier than its usual December launch timeline. It would be expected of Qualcomm to do the same this year, however, a report from industry insider Digital Chat Station (DCS) on Weibo claims that its successor would launch in September, and Chinese smartphone manufacturers are expected to launch devices with the latest chip by October 2025.

If this launch timeline holds true, then the first phone to hit the shelves with Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 would be pitted directly against the iPhone 17 series, which is expected to launch in September with Apple's A19 SoC.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is expected to offer major improvements across the board, including a bump in the base CPU clock speed, which could enhance performance as well as efficiency. Gaming is also expected to be improved in the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chipset, thanks to upgrades to the GPU cache. 

The chipset is also expected to be manufactured using TSMC's 3nm technology, which is also expected to bump up performance and power efficiency. It remains to be seen whether these upgrades will result in a price hike, similar to how it did last year with the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

Last year, Xiaomi was one of the first smartphone manufacturers to incorporate the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset into its flagship devices, starting with the Xioami 15 series in China, which launched just a week after Qualcomm's unveiling in Hawaii. Xiaomi, along with other Chinese OEM manufacturers, is once again expected to lead the line this year. We can expect more devices in India in late 2025 and early 2026 with the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chipset.