Qualcomm could shake things up with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 and 8 Elite 2

Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset late last year, which delivered a major leap forward for Android phones. This also marked a change in naming convention compared to the previous Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. However, it seems like both naming conventions could co-exist in the future.

Prolific leaker Digital Chat Station posted on Weibo that the company’s rumored SM8845 chip could be called the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. Check out the machine-translated screen below.

Qualcomm is also working on the SM8850 chipset, which is expected to be the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 or Snapdragon 8 Elite 2. That means we could see both a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 and Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 in the coming months. The part numbers and previous leaks suggest that the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 will be the top Snapdragon chip in 2026, while the apparent Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 would slot in just below.

Nevertheless, this would be an interesting naming shakeup if confirmed. Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip name last year instead of using the expected Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 moniker. In fact, early production runs of the realme GT7 Pro had packaging that referenced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 name.

It sounds like the Snapdragon 8s Gen 5 won’t join the party, though. Digital Chat Station previously claimed that the SM8835 chip, which was expected to be the Snapdragon 8s Gen 5, wouldn’t be released in 2026.