Summarizing the Latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Processor
- Recent tests reveal that the new Elite 8 Gen 5 chip is the fastest we’ve ever tested, surpassing the iPhone 17 Pro by over 30%.
- It appears to outperform the 8 Elite even more than Qualcomm claims.
Qualcomm has officially unveiled its latest flagship smartphone processor, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Benchmark tests conducted at the Snapdragon Summit show that this chip not only outperforms Apple’s A19 Pro (found in the iPhone 17 Pro) but completely dominates it.
Marketed as the ‘fastest mobile CPU in the world,’ the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 lives up to the hype based on our benchmark results, which are nothing short of impressive.
While we tested the chip on a reference design phone that won’t be released, it provides a glimpse of the performance users can expect from devices powered by this chip.
It’s important to note that our testing was conducted under standard conditions, without any overclocking or special lab environments that could skew the results. We ran multiple tests to ensure accuracy.
On a related note, MediaTek has also announced its new flagship Dimensity 9500, but we have yet to benchmark it for comparison.
Chris Martin / Foundry
Geekbench 6
Geekbench 6 is the benchmarking app of choice for our tests, as it provides a reliable measure of CPU performance without being influenced by other hardware components like the display.
With scores exceeding 12,000, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 stands out as the fastest chip we’ve ever tested, leaving the iPhone 17 Pro far behind in the 9,000 range.
Compared to its predecessor, the performance improvement is remarkable, even when considering the overclocked 8 Elite in the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Our analysis reveals that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is a remarkable 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 own claims of a 20% CPU enhancement.
While single-core performance may not be as impressive, it’s a minor concern given the chip’s overall capabilities. The reference device we tested featured a generous 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM, but memory performance has minimal impact on Geekbench scores compared to earlier versions.
Other tests
In addition to Geekbench 6, we conducted several other tests on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for comprehensive evaluation, despite the limitations of the reference design and test environment.
AnTuTu benchmark yielded an impressive score of 4,292,032, with Qualcomm claiming it can reach 4.5M.
PCMark Work 3.0 Performance averaged at 23,811, while GFXBench showcased solid performance with 102-115fps in the demanding Aztec High test using Open and Vulkan APIs.
Although these results are based on a reference design, they offer valuable insights into the expected performance of upcoming devices powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, such as the Xiaomi 17 series and Samsung Galaxy S26 series.
Qualcomm sponsored my attendance at the Snapdragon Technology Summit, covering travel, airfare, and meals. However, they had no influence over the content of this article.
