Qualcomm’s next flagship chipset — the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro (internal model SM8975) — has appeared in an AnTuTu 11 benchmark run, scoring an impressive 4.83 million points. For context, the current Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 typically lands between 4.0 and 4.6 million. That’s roughly a 5% year-over-year uplift.
The Usual Caveats Apply
Leaked benchmark runs on pre-production hardware should always be taken with multiple grains of salt. The device tested likely runs unfinished firmware, thermal tuning, and possibly engineering silicon. Final retail performance could be higher — or lower.
What We Know About the Architecture
Both Gen 6 Pro and a non-Pro variant are expected to be fabricated on a 2nm process (TSMC or Samsung — still unclear). Rumors point to next-gen Oryon CPU cores in a 2+3+3 configuration across both chips.
Graphics differentiation: the non-Pro allegedly gets an Adreno 845 with 12MB on-chip graphics memory; the Pro should feature a more capable Adreno 850 with 18MB.
First Devices
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro is expected to power the Xiaomi 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, likely arriving in September. Qualcomm’s annual Snapdragon Summit next month should bring the official unveiling.
Perspective
A 5% raw benchmark gain isn’t earth-shattering — but mobile SoCs have hit diminishing returns on synthetic tests. The real questions are sustained performance under load, efficiency at typical workloads, and AI/NPU capabilities. We’ll know more at the Summit.
