The latest whisper from reliable Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station claims the silicon will pack a ‘2 + 3 + 3’ setup, replacing the previous ‘2 + 6’ layout. The three additional cores are thought to be ultra-low-power units meant to squeeze out a bit more efficiency and stop the thing from cooking itself during a benchmark run.

Apparently, there will be the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and a so-called “Pro” version. Both share the same basic design, but the premium edition will come with LPDDR6 RAM support and a faster GPU, while the regular one will be saddled with LPDDR5X memory and a slower graphics clock.

If the leaks are accurate, Qualcomm plans to begin mass production using TSMC’s improved 2nm N2P process, giving it a slight edge in performance and power efficiency over anything still stuck on older fabrication tech.

The rumoured internal presentation slides describe the “Pro” variant’s performance as impressive, although that sort of praise usually comes straight from the marketing department rather than the engineers.

It is still early days, and most of the details remain under wraps, but if the chatter is right, Qualcomm will once again push its top-tier mobile silicon to new heights of speed, cost and heat output.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 is expected to turn up in high-end Android devices sometime in late 2026, assuming the company manages to keep the thermals in check.