Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chips with on-device AI push

The two new processors are the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, both positioned around delivering stronger AI features on handsets rather than in the cloud. Qualcomm said the silicon is intended to sharpen personalization for AI agents running on the device.

Central to that effort are new sensing hubs capable of running small models of up to 200 million parameters. Qualcomm said the hardware allows a phone to operate a personal scribe locally and to tell speakers apart, while also building memory from a user's habits to produce better suggestions for automating everyday tasks.

The standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 carries a new accelerator element built to run models more efficiently. The high-end Extreme version goes further, handling a 30-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts model on the device itself. Under that architecture, the overall model is 30 billion parameters in size, but only a limited set of parameters is activated for any given task.

For scale, Apple released a 20-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts model at its Worldwide Developer Conference in June, describing it as the most advanced of its third generation of foundation models.

Qualcomm is also targeting imaging. The new CPU offers pixel-level control for cameras aimed at more professional-grade results, alongside improved stabilization and motion understanding. The Extreme chip supports video recording at 8K 60fps and at 4K 240 for ultra-high-definition slow motion, and enables the new Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec for professional-level capture.