Qualcomm is gearing up for its next launch event in late September, where it’s anticipated that they’ll introduce the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2. This chip, known by its model number SM8850, has been the subject of some buzz in China, with whispers about another chip, the SM8845, possibly making its debut this year as well.
Now, don’t get confused—this isn’t the Snapdragon 8s Gen 5, which is a step up; rather, it sits just below the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2. The official name is still up in the air, but many are speculating it might be called the Snapdragon 8 Plus.
What’s exciting is that this new high-end chipset is expected to deliver performance that’s pretty much on par with last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite. It will also feature an all-big core CPU setup, utilizing Qualcomm’s custom cores. Compared to the 8 Elite, this new chip will be built on a more advanced process and will incorporate some of the peripherals from the 8 Elite 2.
In essence, we’re looking at a modest upgrade over the original 8 Elite. According to the well-known Chinese leaker Digital Chat Station, the SM8845 is set to power devices from Oppo, OnePlus, and vivo, with these phones boasting impressively large batteries—up to 8,000 mAh.
It certainly seems like the SM8845 is poised to be the go-to chipset for those ‘flagship killer’ devices, effectively bridging the performance gap between the 8s series and the 8 Elite lineup. However, given its similarities to the original 8 Elite, it’ll be intriguing to see whether that SoC will be phased out or continue to coexist.
