Android’s next flagship processor will be the ‘Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5’

Qualcomm has announced that its upcoming flagship mobile chipset is the “Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5,” a confusingly named successor to the Snapdragon 8 Elite. While the processor itself will be unveiled during the Snapdragon Summit on September 23rd-25th, Qualcomm has already published an explanation for the branding update.

“It might look like we skipped generations, but the truth is simpler— and more powerful. Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 marks the fifth generation of our premium 8-series platforms since we introduced our new single-digit naming and visual identity, ” Qualcomm said in a blog post. “So, while the naming may look new, it’s actually a continuation of our established framework.”

This move aims to make the generational Snapdragon mobile chip lineup easier for consumers to understand. After releasing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, Gen 2, and Gen 3, Qualcomm broke its naming conventions with last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite, which is technically the fourth generation of the Snapdragon 8-series. Reintroducing generation numbers will help to make it clearer that these products all exist within the same family and release timeline, while (perhaps not coincidentally) avoiding the number four — which is considered to be unlucky in Chinese culture.

To Qualcomm’s credit, this is less confusing than the numerical branding it previously used for its Snapdragon mobile chips, but it’s amusing that it still had to justify the switch to people who were expecting this to be called the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is poised to rival Apple’s new A19 Pro chipset, and is expected to power the next generation of flagship Android phones, such as Samsung’s Galaxy S26 series and the OnePlus 15.