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Qualcomm launches Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chips with on-device AI

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Qualcomm launches Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chips with on-device AI

Qualcomm announced two new flagship smartphone processors at its annual Snapdragon Summit: the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and the higher-end Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. Both chips are built around on-device AI. They include new sensing hubs that can run small models of up to 200 million parameters, letting a phone run a personal scribe locally, tell different speakers apart, and build up memory of how a person uses their device to suggest automated tasks. Qualcomm said the hub can drive a full voice-in, voice-out AI agent on the device.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 adds a new accelerator element built to run AI models more efficiently. The Extreme version goes further: it can run a 30 billion parameter mixture-of-experts (MoE) model entirely on the phone. In a MoE model, the total parameter count is 30 billion, but only a subset activates for any given task, which keeps the workload manageable on-device. Qualcomm's comparison point is Apple, which released a 20 billion parameter MoE model, the most advanced of its third-generation foundation models, at its Worldwide Developer Conference in June.

The new chips also target photography and video. They give pixel-level control over the camera for more advanced shooting, plus improved stabilization and motion understanding. The Extreme version can record video at 8K 60fps and at 4K240 for ultra-high-definition slow motion, and it supports Qualcomm's new Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec for professional-grade recording. On the audio side, both chips use AI to boost vocals and cut noise, and the Extreme version carries Qualcomm's new voice bubble technology to isolate a caller's voice from background noise.

At the event, Motorola announced its Motorola Signature 27 phone, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, with general availability sometime this year. No pricing was given for either chip, and no release date was announced beyond the Motorola phone.

Qualcomm said it has been working on more than 40 AI devices, but the article frames this against a belief that most people will end up using their phones for AI rather than separate dedicated AI gadgets. It notes that Nothing co-founder Carl Pei has pointed to this trend before, and that new Apple CEO John Ternus made the same point at the iPhone Duo launch earlier this month.

Key facts

  • Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 at its Snapdragon Summit.
  • The Extreme version can run a 30 billion parameter mixture-of-experts model locally on the phone, compared with the 20 billion parameter MoE model Apple released at WWDC in June.
  • A new sensing hub runs models of up to 200 million parameters to power a local voice-in, voice-out agent, speaker differentiation and usage-based suggestions.
  • The Extreme version supports 8K 60fps video and 4K240 slow motion with a new Advanced Professional Video codec.
  • Motorola announced its Signature 27 phone with the Extreme chip, due for general availability sometime this year; no pricing was given for either chip.

Why it matters

Running a 30 billion parameter MoE model entirely on a phone, rather than in the cloud, is a step up in what a mainstream device can do with AI without a network connection. Qualcomm's own comparison to Apple's 20 billion parameter on-device model frames this as catching up with, and passing, what Apple showed at WWDC in June, in a market where on-device model size has become a headline spec for chipmakers.

Who it affects

Buyers of upcoming Android flagship phones, starting with Motorola's Signature 27, get access to the new AI features first. Phone makers that license Snapdragon chips gain a platform to build local AI agents and camera features on, and developers of on-device AI agents and assistants get a chip that can run a bigger local model than before.

How to use it

The features arrive through phones built on the new chips; Motorola's Signature 27, using the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, is the only named device so far, with general availability sometime this year. Qualcomm gave no pricing for either chip and no launch date beyond that phone, and named no other devices that will use them.

How solid is it

The claims come from Qualcomm's own announcement at its Snapdragon Summit event, not from independent testing, so the on-device performance of the 30 billion parameter model and the other new features has not yet been verified outside the company's presentation.

Risks and caveats

The parameter counts describe maximum model sizes the chips can run, not a guarantee of real-world speed or quality, and MoE models only activate part of their parameters per task, which is a different measure from a dense model's full parameter count. Beyond the Motorola phone, there is no confirmed timeline, pricing or device list, and 'sometime this year' leaves the actual release date open.