New Snapdragon 8 Elite Variant Announced with 7-Core CPU Configuration

An official announcement for the Snapdragon 8 Elite took place in October of the previous year. In case you have forgotten, this flagship SoC had two high-performance cores running at 4.32GHz by default and six efficiency cores running at 3.53GHz. Under ideal conditions, with enough cooling, Intel was able to achieve speeds of up to 4.57 GHz on the performance cores, but again, this would depend on specific circumstances.

Qualcomm Unveils Snapdragon 8 Elite Variant with 7-Core CPU, Offering Cost-Effective Flagship Performance

Qualcomm has since hinted at a less powerful version of its flagship chipset—no less than the flagship configuration was unchanged at the time. Now an even lower tier of Snapdragon 8 Elite with one less core has reportedly been spotted. This variant is probably aimed at Qualcomm’s partners, allowing them to introduce flagship devices at lower prices with no noticeable decrease in performance.

The new Snapdragon 8 Elite, codenamed ‘SM8750-3-AB’, keeps the same speeds for the two performance and six efficiency cores. However, the total cores were limited to seven. This suggests that smartphones making use of this SoC will have a 7-core configuration, instead of a typical 8-core setup.

It seems like Qualcomm is doing some chip-binning, which is not uncommon. Apple had a very similar strategy with the A17 Pro, with one fewer GPU core (for the iPad mini 7). This is called chip-binning, and manufacturers can thereby create less powerful (and therefore slightly cheaper) variants by using chips that might not quite meet full specifications. While the single-core performance remains unaffected, the reduced core count will impact multi-core performance.

For Qualcomm’s partners, this cost-saving approach makes sense, as producing the Snapdragon 8 Elite is expensive. A minor performance trade-off, visible only in synthetic benchmarks, can make flagship devices more affordable.

However, this change puts the onus on consumers to carefully review a smartphone’s specifications before purchasing. A handset boasting a Snapdragon 8 Elite at a lower-than-expected price may seem tempting, but buyers must scrutinize details to avoid surprises. Understanding these nuances is now more crucial than ever.

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