Qualcomm Confirms Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 Launch (Not Elite)

Samsung is gearing up to launch the Galaxy S26 Ultra early next year, possibly shipping it with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor. Qualcomm, meanwhile, has just announced the launch date for its non-Elite Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. Yes, there’s a vanilla version too (Qualcomm plans more confusing product names), and it’s coming soon.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 goes official later this month

Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 alongside the Elite variant during the Snapdragon Summit earlier this year. However, while the Elite saw a full launch and is already out in the market, the vanilla version is still in the pipeline. The chipmaker has now revealed that the chip will make its official debut in China on 26 November.

While Qualcomm once again stepped short of revealing the full specs, we know plenty about the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. Built on the same 3nm TSMC process as the Elite, the octa-core processor has a 2+6 CPU configuration clocked at 3.8GHz and 3.32GHz, respectively. In comparison, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 pushes its two prime cores to 4.6GHz and its six performance cores to 3.62GHz.

In fact, the “for Galaxy” variant expected to power the Galaxy S26 Ultra could run at a peak speed of 4.74GHz. The standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 runs much slower and is more suited for Samsung’s Fan Edition lineup. While the Korean firm may want to use its in-house Exynos chip in the Galaxy S26 FE, this Qualcomm processor may be a good pick if it needs to go with Snapdragon.

The phone is still months away, so there’s plenty of time for leaks. Samsung is also gearing up to launch the Exynos 2600, its first 2nm processor. The chip could power the Galaxy S26 and S26+ in some regions. It remains to be seen whether the S26 FE gets the Exynos 2600, Exynos 2500, or Snapdragon 8 Gen 5.