The next Snapdragon flagship SoC could be good news for Android phones, bad news for your wallet

Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is the SoC of choice for many next-generation Android flagships. It’s the latest and greatest chip on the block, announced just a few weeks ago. The cycle for new phones has just gotten started with this new SoC, but we’re already seeing leaks appear for its successor, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6. There’s good news and then there’s bad news, so let’s start with the good news.

Leaker Digital Chat Station shared on Weibo that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 could be built using TSMC’s N2P manufacturing process, which optimizes power consumption and performance compared to the N2 process. Further, the SoC will support up to LPDDR6 for RAM and up to UFS 5.0 for storage.

If this leak pans out, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 could shape up to be a substantial upgrade over the current 8 Elite Gen 5. For context, the 8 Elite Gen 5 is built on TSMC’s N3P 3nm manufacturing process, so Qualcomm appears to be skipping the N2 process and proceeding directly to the N2P process for better performance and lower power consumption.

Furthermore, the 8 Elite Gen 5 supports up to LPDDR5X and UFS 4.1 storage, so the headroom for the specs that Android phone makers can choose for their flagships also increases.

Digital Chat Station previously mentioned that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 would have the model number SM8975 vs the SM8850 used for the 8 Elite Gen 5.

Now for the bad news: Qualcomm has continued to increase the price of its top-tier flagship SoC in recent years, and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 doesn’t appear to be in any mood to buck that trend. The switch to a newer and better manufacturing process will only increase the price. Couple that with the general increase in memory and storage prices, as well as the transition to newer technology for both, and we could be looking at some eye-watering, high prices for future flagships. Better start saving up for your next flagship right away.