Qualcomm announces the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 — what you need to know

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It’s not the Elite we might have expected, but it's enough

Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 reveal
(Image credit: Qualcomm @ Weibo)

Snapdragon has released its latest chip: the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4, which could appear in some of the best Android phones.

Originally reported by Android Authority, Qualcomm announced the new chip in China, although without the expected Snapdragon 8s Elite moniker that you might expect after the Snapdragon 8 Elite, Qualcomm's current top-performing smartphone chip was announced last year.

The biggest difference between the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 and its predecessor is that the new chip does not have any small cores in its design. Dropping the small cores will have the benefit of improving the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4’s multi-core performance. Qualcomm has stated that users can expect a 31% CPU improvement over last year's Snapdragon 8s Gen 3.

Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 speed increase over older model

(Image credit: Qualcomm @ Weibo)

The new chip also uses the same Adreno GPU with the sliced architecture that featured on the Snapdragon 8 Elite seen in the Galaxy S25 series. A slide shared by Qualcomm China on Weibo suggested that the chip will feature two slices, meaning it is designed to be used in conjunction with other identical chips to improve processing power.

For reference, the Snapdragon 8 Elite features three slices. The new Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 also features 12 MB of dedicated memory. As such, we can likely expect a 49% graphical boost over the older model, as well as ray tracing support and the firm’s Game Super Resolution 2.0 tech.

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 also promises to improve AI performance on devices, due to featuring a faster NPU and twice the shared memory compared to the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3. As such, Qualcomm claims that the chip will allow for 44% faster AI performance for devices with the chip.

The new chip will reportedly also support 320MP images, 108MP single camera support with multi-frame processing and 36MP cameras. When it comes to video, the new chip can support 4K videos with 30 frames per second in low light, as well as offering real-time skin tone and sky tone correction.

Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 slices

(Image credit: Qualcomm @ Weibo)

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 also introduces two connectivity upgrades, namely Bluetooth 6.0 and XPAN support. XPAN, if you’ve not heard of the term, means you can connect to compatible wireless earbuds over WiFi, rather than requiring a Bluetooth connection.

The chip also includes an unspecified 4nm design, which would allow the chip to offer improved performance while being smaller in size, 144Hz refresh rate support at QHD+ or WQHD+ resolution, aptX Adaptive/Lossless/Voice integration, Quick Charge 5, and Wi-Fi 7. Qualcomm also stated that the phone will bring a 5G modem with peak download speeds of 4.2 gigabytes per second, although it appears to lack mmWave support.

While we don’t have any word on which models will see the chip, we expect that it will feature in cheaper devices from brands like Xiaomi and OnePlus in the near future. The previous chip, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, is expected to be included in the Nothing Phone (3), so perhaps we'll see a future Nothing handset use it too.

Overall, the Snapdragon 8s gen 4 looks to be a marked improvement over the older model, but we won’t know for sure until we have a chance to put a device with it installed through its paces. We would expect, however, that any phones with it installed would be in with a chance of finding a place in our best cheap phones list.

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Josh Render
Josh Render
Staff Writer

Josh is a staff writer for Tom's Guide and is based in the UK. He has worked for several publications but now works primarily on mobile phones. Outside of phones, he has a passion for video games, novels, and Warhammer. 

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