9 upcoming Android flagship phones with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

Qualcomm has just announced the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC, which sports gains across the CPU, GPU, and NPU and supports the APV codec for higher-quality video capture. This new SoC is expected to be present in top Android flagships throughout the remainder of this year and next, with confirmed manufacturers including ASUS, HONOR, iQOO, nubia, OnePlus, OPPO, POCO, realme, REDMAGIC, Redmi, Samsung, Sony, vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE. If you’re wondering what phones we can expect with the SoC, here are the nine top phones that are coming with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC.

The Xiaomi 17 series will succeed the Xiaomi 15 series (Xiaomi is skipping a generation for its branding). The company already confirmed last month that the Xiaomi 17 series will feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC, making them the first phones to launch with the new processor.

The Xiaomi 17 series will comprise the base Xiaomi 17, the Xiaomi 17 Pro, and the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max. The Xiaomi 17 will feature “comprehensive upgrades” without a price increase in its home country.

The Xiaomi 17 Pro is said to be the most powerful compact imaging flagship, while the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max will be the company’s most powerful flagship. Enthusiasts following the lineup will note that there is no “Ultra” branding this year, as it has been renamed to “Pro Max” — Xiaomi isn’t even trying to hide the Apple imitation anymore.

Beyond the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the big highlight of the Xiaomi 17 series will be the secondary display on the back of the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max. This isn’t the first Xiaomi phone with the secondary rear display — that would be the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra — so the company already has a fair idea of what to do with it. Users can display different clock faces, show app info, and even use it as a viewfinder for the rear cameras for excellent selfies.

Another key highlight is that some of the phones in the series will include 100W universal fast charging through USB PPS, letting users fast charge them with any compatible third-party charger. This is huge as users will no longer be restricted to Xiaomi’s proprietary chargers for the best charging speeds.

The Xiaomi 17 series will launch in China in a few hours. We expect some phones from the lineup to launch in international markets in the coming months.

iQOO is vivo’s performance-focused sub-brand that sells in China and other international markets like India. The company hasn’t explicitly confirmed it yet, but it’s widely rumored and presumed that the upcoming iQOO 15 will come with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC, as previous iQOO flagships have all featured Qualcomm’s latest SoC at the time.

iQOO has been teasing the device’s launch in China for some time now, though the company hasn’t announced a date yet. One of the big highlights of the phone has been confirmed to be its color-changing back. Depending on the viewing angle, the iQOO 15’s back panel will go from an all-gray look to a reddish swirl running through, giving it a unique look.

iQOO has also confirmed that the iQOO 15 will come with the latest Samsung M14 display panel technology (which has also been rumored for the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra). Users can enjoy the 6.85-inch QHD+ OLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate and up to 2,600nits of brightness.

Beyond this, the iQOO 15 is rumored to come with a periscope telephoto sensor for up to 100x digital zoom. We’re awaiting more details for the phone, but it’s one of the more exciting Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 flagships to look forward to.

OnePlus China’s President, Mr. Li Jie, has confirmed on Weibo that the next OnePlus flagship will be called the OnePlus 15. The company has skipped the number “4” in the past due to Chinese cultural beliefs, so the jump from OnePlus 13 to OnePlus 15 doesn’t come as a surprise. The OnePlus 15 is widely expected to come with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC as the company equips the latest Snapdragon flagship SoC on its top-tier flagship, and we’re not expecting any different this time around.

OnePlus has yet to begin teasing the OnePlus 15, so we have to rely on leaks for the big picture. We’ve seen a fair few leaks about the phone, with many suggesting that we could get a 6.78-inch 1.5K resolution flat display, which would be a downgrade from the OnePlus 13 on paper. However, this display will sport a refresh rate higher than 120Hz, as confirmed by company executives on Weibo.

Leaks also suggest that the OnePlus 15 could come with a 50MP periscope telephoto camera with an 85mm equivalent focal length and f/2.8 aperture. With that equivalent focal length, we’re looking at ~3.5x to 3.7x optical zoom, depending on the focal length of the primary camera. This would be a higher zoom factor than the OnePlus 13, but with a seemingly narrower aperture that could impact the telephoto camera’s low-light performance.

Samsung is confirmed as a manufacturer using the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in its upcoming phones, so it’s all but confirmed that at least one of the phones in the upcoming Galaxy S26 series will come with the new flagship SoC from Qualcomm.

However, not all Galaxy S26 series phones could feature Qualcomm’s flagship SoC. There have been prevalent rumors that Samsung could feature its in-house Exynos 2600 SoC on the Galaxy S26 Pro and Galaxy S26 Edge in some markets. Samsung has used this strategy in the past, so there’s precedence for the company to go for it again.

That said, there’s a very good chance that the Galaxy S26 Ultra sold in the USA will feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC. It could get better, too, as Samsung uses a better binned version of Qualcomm’s flagship SoC and brands it with a “for Galaxy” tag, giving you the best possible performance on paper. The Galaxy S26 Pro and the Galaxy S26 Edge in the US could also use this same SoC, but it’s a bit of a toss depending on which leaks you believe.

Leaks suggest that the Galaxy S26 Ultra could feature rounder corners on its mid-frame. The phone is also expected to bring back the camera island. It could also feature Samsung Display’s new M14 OLED panel and support a new Private Display feature. There aren’t many changes expected for the camera, but the 50MP 5x telephoto shooter could get a wider f/2.9 aperture, up from the narrower f/3.4 aperture on the Galaxy S25 Ultra — meaning more light and less noise, especially in low-light scenarios. The Galaxy S26 Ultra could also feature 60W charging, which would be a welcome upgrade from the 45W charging on the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Samsung has not confirmed or teased any details about the Galaxy S26 series. However, the company is widely expected to launch it in early 2026 alongside One UI 8.5.

realme has been teasing its upcoming GT8 Pro flagship in China, confirming its uniquely-shaped camera island, 200MP periscope telephoto camera, and 2K resolution display. The company hasn’t explicitly confirmed it yet, but the GT8 Pro is widely expected to feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC.

The realme GT8 Pro is confirmed to launch in China in October and is expected to make its way to international markets later.

vivo has been teasing and confirming several features of its upcoming vivo X300 series, though most of the information so far is for the base X300 and the X300 Pro. It is the top flagship, the vivo X300 Ultra, that is expected to feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC.

The vivo X300 series launches in China on October 13, though it remains to be seen if the X300 Ultra will also share the same stage. We expect some of the phones in the lineup to reach international markets later on.

7. OPPO Find X9 Ultra

OPPO has been teasing the launch of the Find X9 series in China in October, but most of the teasers are for the base Find X9 and the Find X9 Pro, which are expected to come with the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 SoC.

We expect the company to eventually launch the Find X9 Ultra, which will likely feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. The company hasn’t yet confirmed this nor given any information on its international availability.

HONOR has confirmed that the Magic 8 series is coming later this year, and it’s now revealed that these phones will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor. It also revealed that the new Snapdragon chipset would power its MagicPad 3 Pro tablet.

The company also gave us an early look at the Magic 8 Pro, as seen above. This image hints at a periscope camera once again, but we also see what appears to be a physical camera button. Either way, the new phones will launch in October.

9. nubia REDMAGIC 11 Pro series

Gaming phone maker Nubia has revealed that its upcoming REDMAGIC 11 Pro series of phones will have the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset as well. This isn’t a surprise, as the company has repeatedly been among the first wave of partners for flagship Snapdragon silicon.

In any event, we’re expecting these phones to pack cooling fans and an array of other measures to improve sustained performance. So these could be the best Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 phones for mobile gamers and emulation addicts.