Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Series Roadmap Leak Details New 2nm Elite Gen6 Pro Silicon and MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro Performance Comparisons
An extensive leak from well known industry insider Digital Chat Station has leaked the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 series semiconductor roadmap, revealing the move to 2nm silicon and some first details about the specifications of several unannounced chips. The leak also shows an overview of other 2nm hardware from MediaTek, promising a major leap in mobile performance and graphics.
The highest spec chip of the slate that has been leaked is the model SM8975. It is expected to be marketed under the tentative name Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen6 Pro. It is fabricated on a 2nm process node and features a new generation Oryon CPU architecture with a 2 plus 3 plus 3 core layout.
This flagship silicon is expected to operate at extremely aggressive clock speeds. The graphics on this chip are expected to be managed by Adreno 850 GPU with 18MB of physical GMEM. This flagship silicon supports LPDDR6 and LPDDR5X memory formats and can be reckoned to be the pinnacle of peak mobile performance.
Just below the pro variant is the SM8950 (all but confirmed to be called Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen6). The standard 2nm chip maintains the same 2 plus 3 plus 3 new generation Oryon cpu layout with 16MB L2 cache as the flagship 4G chip with the 845 GPU under the hood but with a reduced 12MB GMEM and only support for LPDDR5X memory. The engineering target for this should be to achieve a new generation chips pushing power efficiency ratio suitable for the mass flagship level.
Ahead of the full move to 2nm hardware, Qualcomm will be filling the SKU gap with interim 3nm deployments. We see a model labeled as the SM8850 listed as the next iteration, or the 'Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen5.' While we know that a clone of this semi, the SM8850Q is listed as a 'turbo' or hot clocked ‘Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen5’. The leak also lists the SM8845 Pro as a near market filler in the Snapdragon 8 Gen5 Pro or Gen6 family.
MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro Comparison
The disclosure also answered questions about MediaTek's arch rival 2nm chip, the Dimensity 9600 Pro, branded at the time with the working name Magni. Early benchmarks hint that this MediaTek chip is around the same theoretical performance level as a flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen6 SM8950 for general performance, while in the graphics area the new MediaTek chip has a dedicated NGP neural graphics accelerator built in.
This high amount of co processor is specifically designed to run console level super resolution and frame insertion natively to the actual chip. Its architecture has been created to greatly boost the gaming frame rate, improve thermal efficiency and increase raytracing performance and rendering loads. The competition between MediaTek and Qualcomm's 2nm offerings points towards a huge step forward for mobile gaming and on device AI execution.
