Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 leak makes 2027’s Ultra phones look both exciting and scary

A fresh leak from reliable tipster Digital Chat Station has revealed new details about Qualcomm’s next flagship chips that will power many premium Android phones in 2027, but could debut as early as the end of this year in devices like the OnePlus 16.

The leaked model numbers, SM8975 and SM8950, are widely believed to correspond to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro and standard Gen 6, respectively. If the leak is accurate, both chips will mark Qualcomm’s first jump to TSMC’s 2nm process. This could potentially result in major gains in efficiency and performance over the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.

Both variants of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chips are tipped to feature a 2+3+3 CPU configuration, likely continuing Qualcomm’s custom Oryon core approach introduced in recent generations.

The biggest differences between the two chips appear to lie in graphics. DCS reports that the alleged Gen 6 Pro (SM8975) packs an Adreno 850 GPU with 18MB GMEM (graphics memory), while the standard Gen 6 (SM8950) uses a slightly toned-down Adreno 845 with 12MB GMEM. “GMEM” likely refers to the Adreno High Performance Memory cache (Adreno HPM).

That difference in graphics cache is notable. More on-chip cache for graphics can typically translate to improved performance and power savings in GPU-heavy tasks. For what it’s worth, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 offers 18MB of Adreno HPM.

In terms of memory support, the Pro variant is said to support LPDDR6, alongside LPDDR5X, while the standard model is expected to stick to LPDDR5X. If true, this could mark the first appearance of LPDDR6 in Android smartphones.

Overall, this looks like a very meaningful generational leap. By offering a Pro variant with better GPU, more cache, and next-gen memory, Qualcomm could give smartphone makers even more flexibility to differentiate their ultra-premium devices.

That said, DCS previously noted that the SM8975 is expected to be “extremely expensive.” At the time, they had said that some so-called “mid-range” models, likely referring to non-Ultra flagships, are already being tested with the SM8950 instead of the SM8975.

With component costs already on the rise amid the ongoing RAM crisis, the addition of an extremely expensive Pro chipset could push next-generation Ultra flagships, like the Galaxy S27 Ultra, into significantly higher price brackets than we’re used to.