Qualcomm Debuts Two Flagship Smartphone Chips Built Around On-Device AI
At its annual Snapdragon Summit, Qualcomm today announced two flagship smartphone processors — the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 — both emphasizing richer, AI-driven experiences.
Smarter Sensing Hubs for Personal AI Agents
According to Qualcomm, the new chips enable improved personalization for AI agents. Each chip features new sensing hubs capable of running small models with up to 200 million parameters. With this hardware, smartphones can:
- Run a personal scribe entirely on-device and distinguish between different speakers
- Build memory from your usage patterns to offer better task-automation suggestions
- Execute a complete voice-in, voice-out agent through the chip itself
Local Processing Power: From Efficient Acceleration to 30B-Parameter Models
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 includes a new accelerator designed to run models more efficiently. The high-end Extreme version goes further, capable of running a 30-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts (MoE) model locally. In an MoE architecture, only a subset of parameters activates for any given task, even though the total model size is 30B.
For comparison, Apple released a 20-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts model at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June — the most advanced of its third-generation foundation models.
Pro-Grade Camera and Audio Capabilities
The new Qualcomm CPU also brings pixel-level camera control for more professional-grade results, alongside improved stabilization and motion understanding. The Extreme variant supports:
- 8K video recording at 60fps
- 4K at 240fps for ultra HD slow-motion
- The new Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec for pro-level recording
Both chips can also use AI to boost vocals and reduce noise. They additionally feature Qualcomm's new voice bubble technology, which isolates a user's voice during calls.
Motorola First Out of the Gate
At the event, Motorola announced its Motorola Signature 27 smartphone, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, with general availability expected sometime this year.
The Broader Bet on Phones as AI Devices
Qualcomm has been developing more than 40 AI devices, but the company still believes most people will turn to their phones for AI rather than dedicated hardware. Nothing co-founder Carl Pei has hinted at this trend in the past, and more recently, new Apple CEO John Ternus reinforced the same line of thinking during the iPhone Duo launch earlier this month.
via TechCrunch AI