Qualcomm appears to be moving up the release of its next flagship chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, with a possible launch now expected in September, roughly a month earlier than usual. According to well-known leaker Digital Chat Station, the shift is a strategic move to directly counter Apple’s iPhone 17, which is also set for a September unveiling.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is rumored to bring notable performance gains. Clock speeds could rise from 4.32 GHz to 4.4 GHz, while cache memory is expected to jump from 12 MB to 16 MB. The chip is anticipated to deliver around 30% better performance than its predecessor.
Smartphones featuring the new chipset could start hitting the market early in October. Likely candidates to debut the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 include the Xiaomi 16 and 16 Pro, with other brands such as Redmi (K90 Pro), Xiaomi 16 Ultra, Realme (GT 8 Pro), OnePlus (14), OPPO (Find X9 Ultra), iQOO (14), and Vivo (X300 Ultra) expected to follow.
While most of these devices may launch in early 2026, we’ll likely see a handful of early adopters showcase the new chip before the end of this year.
