Qualcomm is scrapping the Snapdragon 8s series of chips

This year’s Snapdragon Summit brought along two new mobile chips, and the news that the 8s range is being cancelled.

Following the expected announcement of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, Qualcomm also announced a lower-tier Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 processor – its latest chip designed for cheaper devices.

During a Q&A session, Alex Katouzian, Group General Manager of Mobile, Compute, & XR (MCX), confirmed that the Snapdragon 8s series will no longer exist.

“The 8s is going to evolve into the 8 Gen, so we have the 8 Elite and the 8 Gen,” said Katouzian.

Explaining the decision further, he said, “I think it’s good that way because we started experimenting with the 8s just to see how the market will start to bifurcate, but the results that came back were actually that [paraphrasing its customers] ‘It should be a premium experience, I can’t have a sub-tier’.”

While the naming system is complicated and a bit confusing over the years – the Elite 8 Gen 5 was expected to be called the Elite 2, for example – it simplifies Qualcomm’s offering for the flagship 8 series.

Flagship phones and other top-end devices will get Elite chips while cheaper models – possibly entry-level flagships or even mid-range phones – will get the regular version, with things like scaled-back speeds.

When devices with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 will arrive is unknown, but it shouldn’t be too long. The first phones with the 8 Elite Gen 5 are expected to launch today in the form of the Xiaomi 17 range.

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Qualcomm paid for my travel, airfare, and meals to travel to its Snapdragon Technology Summit. The company did not ask for or exert control over Tech Advisor’s content.