What you need to know
- Rumors state Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite "Gen 2" could see a "significant" price hike in 2025.
- A report claims this is due to several "internal and external" factors that are a major catalyst behind this supposed price increase for OEMs and suppliers.
- Samsung's Galaxy S25 series was previously rumored to be in line for a price increase due to Qualcomm's beefed-up Oryon core 8 Elite.
New (supposed) information is coming to light about next year's successor to the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
User Jukanlosreve on X spotted a report from KiPost (Korean, pay-walled) that claims Qualcomm's next flagship SoC could demand more from OEMs (via Android Police). The major highlight of this report is the possibility that Qualcomm could increase the price of the 2025 flagship chip by a "significant" amount.
The chip has been dubbed the Snapdragon 8 Elite "Gen 2," with the report alleging that "various internal and external factors" are the situation's primary catalyst.
It remains to be seen how this affects the end-user (consumers); however, the publication claimed "component suppliers have been notified." It seems like OEMs and suppliers will feel this price hike first as the post states such suppliers will "raise base prices" or enter "intense" negotiations.
Those at Android Police spotted a rumor from Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station (DCS), who offered insight into the 2nd-gen's potential changes. According to their post, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite "Gen 2" may be based on TSMC's N3P process. This is reportedly an enhanced version of its 3nm process, per the publication.
DCS alleges the chip could see a ~20% "performance improvement" and feature "built-in single-frame-level power consumption reduction technology."
We're likely almost a year out from another flagship Qualcomm debut, but the idea of a price hike echoes what we've heard about the Galaxy S25 series. Rumors in September said Samsung's next flagship series could see a ~20% price increase due to the Snapdragon 8 Elite. The purchasing cost for the chip was reportedly around $190. It's no hiding the fact that Qualcomm boosted its 2024 chip with the Oryon CPU cores.
The report from KiPost adds that Samsung could get hit pretty hard by this SoC price increase, similar to what we've heard about its upcoming phone trio.
The SoC delivers a 44% efficiency boost and a 45% performance increase for flagship models. The graphics processing capabilities have also gone up, but the cost for doing it again might cost even more.
Nothing is for sure right now, so we'll have to keep calm about what this could mean for consumers. It's also unclear if what's been going on with TSMC is affecting Qualcomm's 2025 outlook already. What we can turn to now are recent rumors about Qualcomm's next toned-down flagship chip: the "Snapdragon 8s Elite." Tipsters claim the chip sits somewhere between the SD 8 Gen 2 and the SD 8 Gen 3. It also seems that it could debut in Q1 2025.
