To sum up:
- Tests indicate that the latest Elite 8 Gen 5 chip is the fastest we’ve ever tested.
- It outperforms the iPhone 17 Pro by over 30%.
- It seems to be even better than what Qualcomm claims.
Qualcomm has officially unveiled its new flagship smartphone processor. At the Snapdragon Summit, we conducted benchmark tests on the chip, confirming that it not only surpasses Apple’s A19 Pro (used in the iPhone 17 Pro) but outperforms it significantly.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, touted as the ‘fastest mobile CPU in the world,’ lives up to its reputation. Our benchmarks have revealed some truly impressive results.
While Apple’s top-tier iPhones can be tough competition in certain tests, the results speak for themselves below. The gap in performance is quite evident.
It’s important to note that we tested the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 on a reference design phone that will not be released. However, it offers a glimpse into the capabilities of phones equipped with this chip.
The reference design device was not overclocked in any way, and our tests were conducted under normal room temperature conditions in a conference room, without any special lab enhancements. We ran multiple tests and averaged the scores to ensure accuracy.
On a related note, MediaTek recently announced its new flagship Dimensity 9500, but we have yet to benchmark it for comparison.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Geekbench 6
Geekbench 6 is our focus here as it’s a benchmarking app we’ve relied on for a long time at Tech Advisor, and it’s less influenced by other hardware components like the display.
With scores exceeding 12,000, this chip is officially the fastest we’ve ever tested. It outperforms the iPhone 17 Pro (tested under the same conditions) by a significant margin, reaching only around 9,000.
Compared to the previous generation, the improvement is remarkable, even with the overclocked 8 Elite in the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Our analysis shows that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is an impressive 30.6% faster than the A19 Pro in the iPhone 17 Pro and 31% faster than the Snapdragon 8 Elite in the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, surpassing Qualcomm’s claimed 20% CPU improvement.
Single-core performance may not be as striking, but it’s not as crucial. The Qualcomm-provided reference design device had a massive 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM, but memory performance has minimal impact on Geekbench compared to earlier versions of the app.
Other tests
We also conducted additional tests on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for thoroughness, although they may be less significant due to the use of a reference design device or tests not typically performed on reviewed phones.
However, achieving a score of 4,292,032 in AnTuTu is highly impressive, and Qualcomm claims it can reach 4.5M.
PCMark Work 3.0 Performance averaged at 23,811, and in GFXBench (which we use but is affected by factors like screen resolution), it scored 102 and 115fps in the demanding Aztec High test using Open and Vulkan APIs, respectively.
While these numbers are based on a reference design, they give us a glimpse of the speed we can expect from upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 devices, including the Xiaomi 17 series and Samsung Galaxy S26 series.
Qualcomm sponsored my travel, airfare, and meals for the Snapdragon Technology Summit. However, the company did not influence or control the content of Tech Advisor.
This article explores the benchmark results of Qualcomm’s latest flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, showcasing its superior performance compared to Apple’s A19 Pro. The tests reveal impressive speed and efficiency, positioning the Snapdragon chip as a top contender in the mobile CPU market. Stay tuned for more updates on the latest tech advancements!
