Qualcomm’s latest flagship chipset Snapdragon 8 Elite supports 8 years of OS updates | Tech Tips

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset finally debuted and brands like OnePlus, Xiaomi, iQOO and others confirmed launching flagships with the new SoC. The new chipset is claimed to bring major performance improvements over the predecessor. All this hype aside, Qualcomm’s SVP and GM, Christopher Patrick announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite will support 8 years of updates. Here’s what it means actually.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite can offer longer software support

• Qualcomm is working on ways to enable manufacturers to offer extended software support.
• If Qualcomm and OEMs can indeed deliver on the longer software support policy, it can be seen as a big win for end users who are buying the flagship and don’t want to upgrade quickly just for new software features.

• Most features these days are software-based, including AI, which relies on cloud data.
• It should be made clear that Qualcomm will not push the software updates, instead the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset will offer the infrastructure/enough hardware power to aid such prolonged support.
• Samsung and Google are already promising 7 years of software support, surpassing Apple which usually pushes 5 to 6 years of software support.
• Qualcomm’s new move should make things easier for OEMs if they wish to support the flagships for up to 8 years.
• There are chances that the Samsung Galaxy S25 series could be the first to debut with an 8-year update promise. This is considering if it indeed comes with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC.
• OnePlus promised four years of software support for its OnePlus 12 flagship last year. It remains to be seen if there will be any changes this time around with the upcoming OnePlus 13.

How OEMs react to this huge development coming from the chipmaker side is something that we need to wait and watch. With a yearly flagship launch cycle, it is no easy task (not impossible though) for OEMs to keep up with longer software support. 

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset is built on TSMC’s 3nm process. The chipset is claimed to deliver a 44 percent boost in CPU performance, 27 percent overall power savings, and 44 percent improved power efficiency. The SoC features the Oryon CPU architecture, with the prime core ticking at 4.32GHz and performance cores at 3.53 GHz. For comparison, the Dimensity 9400 has a maximum clock speed of 3.63GHz.

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