Qualcomm’sSnapdragon 8 Eliteis an exciting new mobile chopine that ’s designate to power many of next twelvemonth ’s flagship smartphones . The improvement Qualcomm has made in this year ’s chip are spotlight by the fact that the chipmaker has dropped its traditional “ Gen ” designations to give the 4th - generation chipan identity all its own .
While the Snapdragon 8 Elite has already begin present up in some more niche flagships like theRealme GT 7 Pro , we likely wo n’t really get a gustation of what it can do until more mainstream players like OnePlus and Samsung bring it to their phones . TheOnePlus 13has already been announced and will probably gain North American shores early next year . There ’s also small dubiousness that the new scrap will also be at the core ofSamsung ’s Galaxy S25 card , in all likelihood powering newGalaxy AIfeatures andbringing the S25 Ultra ’s cameras to novel heights .
On the other side of the ring , Apple continue to flex its chipmaking muscles with the A18 Pro , which is at the heart of this year’siPhone 16 Pro . We do n’t have to wait to see what that poker chip is capable of , however , as Apple has already ( mostly ) put its good foot forwards withApple Intelligenceand new computational photography feature article .
While it ’s punishing to compare the Snapdragon 8 Elite and A18 Pro on equal foothold since both are used in essentially different mobile platforms , their dispute raise some interesting questions . Most notably , does either piece of silicon give one platform a substantial advantage over the other , or is it more about what sound Maker do with the capabilities that are available to them ? allow ’s dig in and ascertain out .
Snapdragon 8 Elite vs. Apple A18 Pro: specs
measureless real - time Semantic Segmentation
Up to 48MP triple camera at 30 fpsUp to 108MP single camera at 30 fpsUp to 320MP exposure captureZero Shutter Lag
Slo - mo picture gaining control at 1080p @ 480 fps
Massive Multi - Frame Noise Reduction with AI
Real - clip AI skin and sky tone fitting in 4K60 Federal Protective Service
ProRes and HEVC Video Recording in Dolby Vision 4 M
Hardware Video Encoder ( ProRes , HEVC )
Cinematic Slow Motion video capture at 4 1000 @ 120 Federal Protective Service
Snapdragon 8 Elite vs. Apple A18 Pro: CPU
Qualcomm ’s Snapdragon 8 Elite sucker a substantial leap over its predecessor when compared to Apple ’s A18 Pro , as it ’s the troupe ’s first chip to move to TSMC ’s 3 - nanometer ( 3 nm ) fictionalisation process . Apple was the first to make the 3 nm transition with its 2023 A17 Pro used in theiPhone 15 Prolineup . However , it used an earlier rendering of TSMC ’s physical process , dub N3B , which was set upon by manufacture problems that resulted in abject output . It may also be the grounds for the binned A17 Pro chips that have found their way intothis yr ’s iPad mini 7 — there ’s a good chance these are leftover chips from the N3B process that did n’t make the baseball swing for the iPhone 15 Pro .
N3B was n’t ready for prime prison term , which is likely why Qualcomm hop-skip that early 3 nm outgrowth until it evolve into this year ’s N3E. That ’s not to say that the N3B cognitive process made the A17 Pro inferior in any way . The trouble with it were related to production , but those chips that did come off the line successfully were still brawny enough to usher in a unexampled epoch of peregrine gaming and prepare Apple ’s iPhone 15 Pro models for the new AI capabilities that would become the foundation of Apple Intelligence .
Now that N3E is quick , the Snapdragon 8 Elite and Apple ’s A18 Pro have adopted that more stable appendage . This put them on the same heart and soul technology baseline , but that ’s where their similarity cease , as Apple and Qualcomm have each take their silicon in different directions .
Unlike Apple , Qualcomm builds chip for third - party platforms , ranging from smartphones and tablets to ARM - based Windows PC . It ’s this last class that ’s inspired the Snapdragon 8 Elite , which convey its young Oryon core engineering science that debuted in the Snapdragon X processors in last year ’s AI PCs to the mobile space . However , this is a 2nd generation of that core that boasts good carrying into action and power efficiency than the one establish in its Adam chips and prognosticate a 45 % increase in carrying into action . The two prime cores proffer clock speed of up to 4.32GHz versus 3.4GHz in last class ’s chip . Six performance cores add on that with 3.53GHz peak speeds , direct them in the lead of even last year ’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Cortex - X4 prime Congress of Racial Equality .
Apple ’s A18 Pro takes a different attack , using a compounding of execution and efficiency CORE similar to Qualcomm ’s previous silicon . A duo of gamey - carrying into action cores deliver clock speeds of up to 4.04GHz , while the four efficiency cores only clock in at 2.2GHz .
While you might expect those differences would make the Snapdragon 8 Elite the better performing artist with eight cores and faster clock fastness across the board , benchmarks surprisingly place both microprocessor chip around on par . The A18 Pro edges out the Snapdragon 8 Elite in unmarried - core performance , while Qualcomm ’s chip offers slightly good multicore execution , but they ’re very close in both areas , demonstrate that clock speeds and the figure of cores do n’t secern the whole story . Both silicon chip are extremely powerful in their own right , and there ’s no clear victor in sensitive central processor performance .
Snapdragon 8 Elite vs. Apple A18 Pro: GPU
In 2023 , Apple announced it had get “ a find new GPU ” for its A17 Pro , and touted it as the biggest redesign in its account . Features like an Apple - designed shader architecture , computer hardware - accelerate ray tracing , and Metal issue upscaling that employment in conjunction with Apple ’s Neural Engine ( NPU ) made the iPhone 15 Pro the first smartphone capable of handlingfull - quality AAA cabinet games . The A18 Pro use the same Apple - designed GPU , boosting overall performance by 20 % and doubling the light beam tracing performance .
However , it ’s also fair to say that Apple ’s move into AAA gambling was more of an indictment of the state of the Android play landscape than it was of Qualcomm ’s Snapdragon chips . The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 ’s Adreno GPU was still a match for the A17 Pro in raw specs , and the Snapdragon 8 Elite has taken that to a young tier . Qualcomm says it ’s the “ first - ever Adreno GPU with shredded computer architecture , ” and it delivers a 40 % performance gain over the Gen 3 while lend support for Unreal Engine 5.3 Nanite .
The practical upshot of these improvements is a more naturalistic gambling experience with “ film - quality 3D environments for total concentration ” and documentation for the Unreal Chaos Physics Engine , which provides a whole newfangled and more immersive level of realism for gaming .
It ’s a significant push ahead for Qualcomm silicon . Apple ’s advantage in this area has amount from its ability to woo secret plan developers and convert them to embrace itsMetalFX engine . Last twelvemonth ’s A17 Pro delivered impressive results , and those are continue with the A18 Pro , ferment Apple ’s iPhones into gaming powerhouses . Qualcomm hopes that if they work up it , game developers will come , and it ’s tell that the extremely gambling - focusedROG Phone 9 Prois one of the first phones to pack in the Snapdragon 8 Elite .
Snapdragon 8 Elite vs. Apple A18 Pro: NPU
With procreative AI becoming a much bigger deal , there ’s a third important aspect of modern silicon : the Neural Processing Unit ( NPU ) . Apple name this its Neural Engine , and it ’s been carry these into its A - series bit since the A11 Bionic in 2017 .
Qualcomm was n’t far behind . While it did n’t make as much haphazardness about NPUs in those Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , the 2018Snapdragon 845introduced its first Hexagon Tensor Accelerator . In those days , NPUs were used primarily for under - the - cowl features like computational photography . The Hexagon chip was originally a digital signal processor ( DSP ) that evolve into an NPU , and Apple ’s other Neural Engine was primarily used to endure then - nascent features like face up ID and Animoji on that year’siPhone X.
We ’ve amount a long direction since then . The Hexagon has acquire into a full - featured NPU with 14 cores in the Snapdragon 8 Elite , and Apple ’s Neural Engine has grow from its lowly duple - core kickoff to a 16 - core subsystem that can handle up to 35 trillion operation per 2nd ( TOPS ) . Both are primal to powering their respective platform ’ AI and other machine - memorise features , including Galaxy AI on Samsung ’s smartphones , Gemini Nano , andApple Intelligence .
Apple is heavily push on - twist reproductive AI as a privacy feature of speech , so it ’s built its Neural Engine in the A18 Pro and other recent A - serial publication and M - series chips with that in mind . Qualcomm has been a bit slower in come there ; the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 take the first step into this arena , but the Snapdragon 8 Elite may have the first NPU that can in effect deliver on this thanks to an enhanced token limit that will support more complex and longer input without the need to institutionalise those asking to cloud server .
NPUs also go deeper than merely consumer - face AI features . They also drive matter like tv camera enhancement , better power efficiency , and wireless communication . These things are much harder to measure , but do it to say that the Snapdragon 8 Elite and A18 Pro should both be more than up to those job .
Snapdragon 8 Elite vs. Apple A18 Pro: power efficiency
Despite all these performance increase , it ’s telling that both chips promise increase might efficiency . Qualcomm gains more over its forerunner , thanks to the work shift to a 3 nanometer process . Still , its 2d - multiplication Oryon central processing unit cores and the sliced architecture of its Adreno 830 GPU solvent in Energy Department efficiency that matches the execution advance — 40 % fast gaming performance and 40 % greater efficiency .
Qualcomm say this should interpret to an extra 2.5 hour of gaming over its forerunner , all other matter being equal . However , the world of this is middling more complex , as things are seldom equal . The smartphones that the Snapdragon 8 Elite go into will have many other thing draw power , notably turgid high - refresh screens . The chip may be more efficient , but French telephone makers will have to work on using other constituent that do n’t detract from that .
Apple gets a theoretic vantage here as it own all the piece , allowing us to see more measurable veridical - world event . The A18 Pro is only used in two smartphones , the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max , both of which show detectable , but modest improvements over their A17 Pro - equipt predecessors . Apple typically considers all - day shelling life good enough , so the efficiency pull ahead from its new chips are often pour into delivering more power to other aspects of the iPhone , such as the larger presentation on this year ’s models and the new Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18 .
Some Android manufacturers may choose to do the same with Qualcomm ’s Snapdragon 8 Elite , but the diversity of platform that will incorporate the new chip should lead in at least some equipment focusing more heavily on improving overall battery lifetime .
Snapdragon 8 Elite vs. Apple A18 Pro: other features
Once we get past the core element , the two platforms diverge significantly . Qualcomm bakes much more into its atomic number 14 , while Apple still relies on third - party bit ( some of which are Qualcomm ’s , ironically ) to handle thing like Wi - Fi , Bluetooth , and 5 G connectivity .
The Snapdragon 8 Elite incorporates Qualcomm ’s FastConnect 7900 weapons platform , which includes Wi - Fi 7 sustenance with point speeds of 5.8Gbps , the X80 5 G Modem - RF system , Bluetooth 6.0 , and integrated Ultra Wideband . orchard apple tree mix this up more , using Qualcomm ’s Snapdragon X75 to palm its 5 deoxyguanosine monophosphate connectivity and a Broadcom chip for Wi - Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3 in the iPhone 16 Pro model .
Similarly , Qualcomm promotes the television camera capabilities of the simulacrum sign processor in its Snapdragon 8 Elite , which promises more NPU - powered computational picture taking features for thing like multiframe noise simplification and enhancing crushed - light TV capture . The image signaling C.P.U. can now handle 320 - megapixel photos , 1080p slo - mo video at 480 frames per second ( Federal Protective Service ) , zero shutter lag , and AI - powered skin and sky tone alteration . However , it feel slenderly artful to focalise too much on camera specification in a chip since these are only maximum capability that may have little charge on what we end up with in smartphones equip with Qualcomm ’s tardy buffalo chip . It ’s nice to know it ’s rear the bar , but do n’t gestate to see too many phones with 480 - fps slo - mo and the ability to trance 320MP photos .
Apple does n’t tout the same for its A18 Pro because it ’s simply part of the iPhone 16 Pro experience . Apple ’s atomic number 14 is undoubtedly responsible for its novel Photographic Styles and 4K/120 fps Cinematic Slow Motion , just like premature generation empowered real - time color grading for Dolby Vision video capture .
Snapdragon 8 Elite vs. Apple A18 Pro: final words
It ’s always been hard to compare Apple ’s A - series chips with anything else on the market in any meaningful way . Beyond benchmarks that die to severalise the whole story , Qualcomm ’s Snapdragon 8 Elite and Apple ’s A18 Pro live in entirely different worlds . You ’ll never find a Qualcomm fleck running iOS or an A - series chip running Android .
Apple expend its chips exclusively in its own gadget , running its own operating system , which means it controls all the pieces . The A18 Pro was design with only two twist in nous , the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max , and is unlikely to be used anywhere else . Meanwhile , Qualcomm has organize its Snapdragon 8 Elite to power a broad range of Android smartphones across different disciplines , from play - focalise phones like Asus ’ ROG Phone 9 Pro to more universal - use agio flagship like Samsung ’s Galaxy S25 series ( which are undoubtedly slated to use the new chipset ) . Each of those companies will use the Snapdragon 8 Elite in different way , and Qualcomm has to design a cow dung that ’s quick to address them all .
That shit the Snapdragon 8 Elite a more versatile chip , but that only count because it need to be . Apple can get forth with a more single - minded approach for its A18 Pro . While this year ’s Apple chip only gets small improvements over its forerunner , that ’s because it already leapt beforehand last twelvemonth when it run to the former N3B 3 micromillimetre process for the A17 Pro . Qualcomm has to play a snatch of catch - up here , but it ’s done so laudably with the Snapdragon 8 Elite , and there ’s no doubt it ’s ready to power new Android headsets that will take on this twelvemonth ’s Apple flagships . Now , it ’s up to Android manufacturers to take that egg and run with it .
