Qualcomm has unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V-Series, a more optimized variant of its flagship processor built specifically for gaming, according to a report by Damián García. The announcement came without prior warning.
The chip is a fourth edition of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which powers nearly all premium mobile devices launched in the 2026 cycle across manufacturers. Qualcomm released a full datasheet for the new chip alongside the announcement.
The San Diego-based company introduced the gaming-focused variant even as prices rise and the chip industry faces what the report describes as a galloping crisis.
The chip's product code is Qualcomm SM8850-1-AB. It is set to debut in the coming weeks inside the Redmi K100 Pro, a smartphone the report describes as poised to become a totally beastly device powered by this gaming-versioned chipset.
Specifications
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 V-Series keeps the same TSMC 3-nanometer lithography and core architecture as its predecessor. Its octa-core CPU pairs two Oryon V3 Phoenix L cores running at 4.6 GHz with six Oryon V3 Phoenix M cores at 3.62 GHz.
The chip uses an Adreno 840 GPU clocked at 1.2 GHz, a Qualcomm Hexagon AI co-processor, and a Qualcomm X85 5G modem. Connectivity runs through the AI-enhanced FastConnect 7900 Mobile system, with support for up to LPDDR5X memory, up to UFS 4.1 storage, and a Qualcomm Spectra image signal processor.
Gaming-focused changes
Qualcomm says the new variant includes an Adreno High Performance Memory (HPM) feature with 12 megabytes of reserved volatile memory, compared with 18 megabytes on the top-tier model. It is not clear whether the smaller allocation was made to cut costs, given the devices this chipset targets.
Qualcomm did not skimp on gaming technology despite that reduction. The chip includes hardware-accelerated ray tracing, Snapdragon Game Super Resolution 2.0, Adreno Frame Motion Engine 3.0, and optimizations specific to Unreal Engine 5. It is unclear whether those features were carried over from the top-tier chip or built specifically for this version.
Launch plans
According to sources cited in the report, Qualcomm and Xiaomi will present the chip together on August 11 alongside the Redmi K100 Pro. The device will launch exclusively in China before expanding to other markets later.
The chip is also expected to appear under the POCO brand, likely in an F9 Pro or F9 Ultra model, according to the report.
