It's official: Android's best flagship chip is coming much earlier than expected
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
TL;DR Qualcomm has confirmed that the Snapdragon Summit will take place from September 23-25.
The company always uses this event to announce its next-generation flagship phone processor.
So we're expecting the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 to be announced at this year's event.
Qualcomm usually announces its next-generation flagship Android phone processor at the Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii each year. We've previously heard murmurings about an earlier launch, and the company has now made it official.
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon gave a keynote address at Computex 2025, and one of the presentation slides confirmed (h/t: Notebook Check) that the Snapdragon Summit would take place on September 23-25. Check out the screenshot below.
This means the summit is taking place much earlier than in previous years. The 2024 event took place from 21-23 October, while the 2023 event spanned 24-26 October.
This earlier reveal would allow smartphone manufacturers to launch their next-generation high-end phones sooner. The Xiaomi 15 and 15 Pro were the first Snapdragon 8 Elite phones and launched on October 23. So don't be surprised if we see the first Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 phones arriving in late September.
One big question is whether blockbuster flagships like the Galaxy S26 series and OnePlus 15 will launch earlier too. In any event, a previous leak points to the new chip offering a second-generation 3nm TSMC design, second-generation Oryon CPU cores, and an Adreno 840 GPU. The current Snapdragon 8 Elite tops many benchmarks, although we also encountered heating issues when stress-testing a few devices. So here's hoping that the next-generation chip doesn't run as hot.
Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at
Email our staff at news@androidauthority.com . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump and TSMC pitched $1 trillion AI complex — SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son wants to turn Arizona into the next Shenzhen
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Masayoshi Son, founder of SoftBank Group, is working on plans to develop a giant AI and manufacturing industrial hub in Arizona, potentially costing up to $1 trillion if it reaches full scale, reports Bloomberg. The concept of what is internally called Project Crystal Land involves creating a complex for building artificial intelligence systems and robotics. Son has talked to TSMC, Samsung, and the Trump administration about the project. Masayoshi Son's Project Crystal Land aims to replicate the scale and integration of China's Shenzhen by establishing a high-tech hub focused on manufacturing AI-powered industrial robots and advancing artificial intelligence technologies. The site would host factories operated by SoftBank-backed startups specializing in automation and robotics, Vision Fund portfolio companies (such as Agile Robots SE), and potentially involve major tech partners like TSMC and Samsung. If fully realized, the project could cost up to $1 trillion and is intended to position the U.S. as a leading center for AI and high-tech manufacturing. SoftBank is looking to include TSMC in the initiative, given its role in fabricating Nvidia's AI processors. However, a Bloomberg source familiar with TSMC's internal thinking indicated that the company's current plan to invest $165 billion in total in its U.S. projects has no relation to SoftBank's projects. Samsung Electronics has also been approached about participating, the report says. Talks have been held with government officials to explore tax incentives for companies investing in the manufacturing hub. This includes communication with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to Bloomberg. SoftBank is reportedly seeking support at both the federal and state levels, which could be crucial to the success of the project. The development is still in the early stages, and feasibility will depend on private sector interest and political support, sources familiar with SoftBank's plans told Bloomberg. To finance its Project Crystal Land, SoftBank is considering project-based financing structures typically used in large infrastructure developments like pipelines. This approach would enable fundraising on a per-project basis and reduce the amount of upfront capital required from SoftBank itself. A similar model is being explored for the Stargate AI data center initiative, which SoftBank is jointly pursuing with OpenAI, Oracle, and Abu Dhabi's MGX. Melissa Otto of Visible Alpha suggested in a Bloomberg interview that rather than spending heavily, Son might more efficiently support his AI project by fostering partnerships between manufacturers, AI engineers, and specialists in fields like medicine and robotics, and by backing smaller startups. However, she notes that investing in data centers could also reduce AI development costs and drive wider adoption, which would be good for the long term for AI in general and Crystal Land specifically. Nonetheless, it is still too early to judge the outcome. The rumor about the Crystal Land project has emerged as SoftBank is expanding its investments in AI on an already large scale. The company is preparing a $30 billion investment in OpenAI and a $6.5 billion acquisition of Ampere Computing, a cloud-native CPU company. While these initiatives are actively developing, the pace of fundraising for the Stargate infrastructure has been slower than initially expected. SoftBank's liquidity at the end of March stood at approximately ¥3.4 trillion ($23 billion). To increase available funds, the company recently sold about a quarter of its T-Mobile U.S. stake, raising $4.8 billion. It also holds ¥25.7 trillion ($176.46 billion) in net assets, the largest portion of which is in chip designer Arm Holdings. Such vast resources provide SoftBank with room to secure additional financing if necessary, Bloomberg notes Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Android Authority
6 hours ago
- Android Authority
Yaber T2 Outdoor Projector drops to new record-low price!
Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority Are you looking for a good portable projector that won't break the bank? The Yaber T2 Outdoor Projector is my personal pick. The $349.99 retail price is very reasonable, but discounts are common, and today's is the best we've seen. It's at a record low price of $233.99! Buy the Yaber T2 Outdoor Projector for just $233.99 ($116 off) This offer is available from Amazon and is a 'limited time deal.' Like, very limited. This offer has a timer on it, and according to Amazon, the sale ends in about four hours, so at about 8:30 PM Pacific. You'd better act fast! Yaber T2 Outdoor Projector Yaber T2 Outdoor Projector See price at Amazon Save $116.00 Limited Time Deal! I personally own the Yaber T2 Outdoor Projector and absolutely love it. Sure, other projectors out there are brighter, more vibrant, and overall better, but none of those are this affordable! Value per dollar, this is definitely my favorite portable projector. And I am not alone; our own Kaytlin gave the Yaber T2 a very favorable review, as well. One of its main advantages is portability. You can actually take this one around wherever you want. The design is pretty portable, and it has a nice handle for easy carrying. Additionally, it has an integrated battery that can run the projector for 2.5 hours on a full charge. Many other projectors claim to be portable because they are small, but have no battery and need to be plugged into a wall to work. The image is pretty decent. It can produce a Full HD projection at a 450-lumen brightness. And the image can be extended to 120 inches, which is enormous. It looks excellent in medium-to-low light, but it does start to suffer once the lighting gets on the brighter side. Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority In terms of audio, you'll get two 8W speakers, which were surprisingly good for the size and price of the unit. They are definitely better than any other projector speakers I have heard. This is great, because you can also use this as a portable Bluetooth speaker, and the battery life gets extended to 18 hours when in audio-only mode. How can you get something so good for so little money? Well, Yaber did make some sacrifices. I wish it had a smart TV OS built in. It has a nice set of input methods, though. You get HDMI, USB for local storage, and mirroring support. You can always get Yaber's Google TV dongle, or any other smart TV streaming stick or box. I am more than happy with the Yaber T2 Outdoor Projector, and am sure many of you will love it, too. My movie nights have never been more magical, and I didn't have to spend an arm and a leg on it. Again, this is a limited time deal and it is ending in a few hours, so go get it while you can!
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Intel claims 18A, the node Pat bet the company on, is either 25% faster or 38% more efficient than Intel 3. Though that's a node Intel didn't have enough faith in to release for desktops or laptops
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Intel has been deep diving on its upcoming 18A chip node at the VLSI Symposium in Japan. And if the company's claims are to be believed, 18A is looking pretty sweet. Among other factoids, Intel says it's either up to 25% faster at the same power level, or up to 38% more efficient at the same frequency compared with the Intel 3 node. That's very promising for laptop battery life in particular. Of course, Intel 3 is a node of which we have absolutely zero experience. That's because Intel has never used Intel 3 for a consumer chip, choosing instead to go with TSMC's N3 node for both its Lunar Lake laptop chip and latest Arrow Lake desktop and mobile CPU family, as used for the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K. The most advanced Intel node in the PC is Intel 7, which is a rebrand of Intel's infamous 10nm technology, which ended up arriving the better part of a decade late. Anyway, what to make of these claims from Intel? Specifically and compared to Intel 3, Intel says that in low voltage 0.65 V operation, 18A is either 18% faster or 38% more efficient, while in high voltage 1.1 V mode, it's 25% faster or 36% more efficient. In other words, in low voltage mode you can either run the same clock speed as Intel 3 and use 38% less power, or use the same power and enjoy 18% faster clocks. Meanwhile, in the high performance, high voltage mode, you can choose between either 25% higher clocks for the same power consumption as Intel 3 or the same clocks with 36% lower consumption. Any way you slice it, these are very nice numbers. It's just hard to draw too many conclusions given the scarcity of comparable Intel chips on the Intel 3 node. For now, it's only the Xeon 6 Granite Rapids server CPU, launched earlier this year, that's built on Intel 3. Moreover, the fact that Intel passed over Intel 3 for Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake hardly seems like a vote of confidence in its own manufacturing tech. The point being that Intel also made some bullish claims about Intel 3 and an 18% performance-per-watt increase over Intel 4, but it seems like we'll never get an Intel 3 chip in a PC. What's more, even if these claims are accurate, there's the question of yields. Can Intel actually produce 18A chips at scale? Answers to all these questions will presumably come later this year when the Panther Lake mobile CPU with an 18A CPU die is supposed to be released. If Intel's numbers are accurate, Panther Lake ought to be a much more efficient laptop CPU, enabling clearly improved battery life. At least, that's compared to Intel 3. Exactly how 18A compares with TSMC N3, which is the node used by Intel for Lunar Lake's CPU cores is a separate matter. The takeaway here, then, is that this is all very complicated. Intel has released some very promising numbers. But they involve comparison with another Intel node which itself is only available in a range of server chips and it's unclear how 18A stacks up against TSMC's competing technology. The proof will be in the processing, so to speak, when Panther Lake arrives at the end of this year. It's been a long time coming, but no CPU has ever felt as critical for Intel as Panther Lake.
