I benchmarked Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 in opposition to Apple’s A20 Pro and Google’s Tensor G6, and one clearly loses

Qualcomm’s new flagship chip is right here — properly, chips. The firm introduced the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 at Snapdragon Summit, nevertheless it additionally threw a curveball by revealing a higher-tier Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 cellular processor. Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is not merely a successor to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 we noticed final 12 months, or the overclocked variant in Samsung and Redmagic telephones. It’s one thing new totally.

But how a lot completely different is the “Extreme” chip from the “Elite” ones we’re used to? And can we really want extra energy in our telephones, when present processors already ship extra efficiency than we all know what to do with? I ran a set of benchmarks together with Geekbench, 3DMark, and AnTuTu on a Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 reference gadget — and the newest Apple, Samsung, and Google telephones — to search out out.

About this text: Qualcomm supplied journey and lodging for Snapdragon Summit. The firm had no enter on this article, and didn’t see it earlier than publishing.

What’s new about Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6?

The reference gadget I examined makes use of a beastly 24GB RAM

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is constructed on TSMC’s 2nm course of node, that means it is utilizing essentially the most superior cellular chip manufacturing accessible. Apple’s not too long ago launched A20 Pro chip additionally makes use of the identical manufacturing course of, and it is accessible now within the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6’s prime core crucially hits 5GHz clock speeds for the primary time, with the secondary efficiency cores clocked decrease at 4GHz.

But the hole between the usual Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and the Extreme model is perhaps comparatively small. In CPU efficiency, Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is 13% quicker with 35% higher energy effectivity in comparison with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. However, the usual Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 continues to be 10% quicker and nonetheless 37% extra environment friendly. So, is that further few p.c price selecting the Extreme?

The actual positive factors are set to reach within the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 graphics and on-device AI efficiency. The new chip is claimed to supply a 44% pace enhance in GPU efficiency, and a 35% quicker NPU — once more, that is in comparison with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.

I put these claims to the take a look at by benchmarking a Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 reference gadget. This reference gadget makes use of the brand new chip, 24GB of RAM, 1TB of UFS 5.0 storage, a 4,400mAh battery, and a 6.73-inch AMOLED display. It’s necessary to notice that this can be a reference gadget, not a industrial product, and the efficiency will fluctuate in comparison with the precise gadgets that can ship with Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6.

However, these checks give us an early preview of the sort of efficiency we will count on from Honor, iQOO, Motorola, Nubia, OnePlus, Oppo, Redmi, Redmagic, Vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE telephones — with extra prone to comply with.

How the most effective Snapdragon chip stacks up

It’s higher, however how significantly better? Let’s discover out

Let’s have a look at these CPU pace claims first. I ran Geekbench 6 on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 reference gadget and the Galaxy S26 Ultra, the latter of which makes use of an overclocked Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Single-core efficiency was almost 20% higher on the brand new chip, which is even quicker than Qualcomm’s claimed 13%. Moving to multi-core checks, the Extreme chip was over 20% quicker than the Galaxy S26 Ultra and its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy.

Next, I used the newer Geekbench 7 take a look at on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 reference gadget and the Galaxy Z Fold 8. Samsung’s smaller foldable makes use of the identical chip because the Galaxy S26 Ultra, however with a distinct thermal profile. The hole is smaller, because the Extreme chip solely outpaced final 12 months’s Elite chip by 14% in single-core workloads.

I used to be actually curious to know whether or not the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 reference gadget may beat the iPhone 18 Pro and its A20 Pro chip, and in Geekbench 7, it was a blended bag. Apple’s new chip was 15% quicker in single-core CPU efficiency, however Qualcomm’s Extreme chip was 9% quicker in multi-core CPU efficiency. It wasn’t even shut within the GPU take a look at — Apple’s A20 Pro scored greater than double that of the Extreme chip in Geekbench 7’s graphics benchmark.

This appears like an excellent time to level out simply how far Qualcomm and Apple are forward of Google. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 reference gadget was 75% quicker than the Tensor G6 in my testing, which is an unimaginable hole.

Qualcomm earned a decisive victory in AnTuTu — a complete benchmark that checks CPU and GPU efficiency, reminiscence and storage pace, and common person expertise flows. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 reference gadget scored over 5.5 million, whereas the iPhone 18 Pro got here in at below 3.5 million.

In gaming efficiency, it is clear Apple and Samsung are racing to the highest. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 reference gadget scored 15% increased in 3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme Unlimited take a look at, which gauges a telephone’s capability to render 4K UHD video games. In 3DMark’s Solar Bay Extreme, a ray-traced gaming benchmark, the iPhone 18 Pro got here out on high with an 8% higher rating.

Really, these checks inform us that no matter whether or not you select an Elite Extreme telephone or an A20 Pro telephone, you are going to get efficiency that you simply most likely will not know what to do with. But in comparison with the Tensor G6 chip within the Google Pixel 11 collection, you will seemingly discover the downgrade in each day use — it is that huge of a downgrade.

What you’ll do with Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6

And when you’ll get it in an actual, manufacturing gadget

As we await the launch of Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 telephones you may truly purchase, you are most likely questioning what new performance the additional efficiency allows. And to be sincere, I’m undecided. It’s clear that almost every little thing might be a bit quicker because of Elite Extreme, however Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 was already quick. So, I’m hoping this chip brings extra on-device AI processing to flagship telephones. It’s quicker and more secure than utilizing the cloud, nevertheless it’ll be as much as telephone producers and builders to truly offload that processing to your telephone.

The Motorola Signature 27 may be the primary Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 telephone to launch within the U.S, nevertheless it would not have an official launch date but.