Qualcomm, a US chip designer best known for smartphone processors, unveiled its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chips on September 22 for premium Android phones.

The company said the chips are built on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s 2-nanometer process and tuned for on-device AI.

The chips combine a central processing unit, graphics processing unit, and neural processing unit.

Qualcomm said they also add security controls for agentic access to sensitive data, and that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 can run models with 30 billion parameters.

The company said the chips will appear in premium smartphones from Motorola, Xiaomi, and ZTE. It is also offering a higher-end “Extreme” version with added features.

The launch comes as phone brands rely more on higher-priced models during a broader market downturn.

Counterpoint forecasts smartphone shipments will fall 14% in 2026 and another 1% in 2027, while the premium segment’s market share hit 29% in H1, a record high.

Competition in chipmaking is also tightening. Apple, Qualcomm, and MediaTek all target 2nm chips in 2026.

🔗 Source: CNBC

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