Every year, Qualcomm reveals a new flagship Snapdragon chip during the Snapdragon Summit, with the processor usually going on to power some of the most impressive Android phones of the next 12 months. This year, the event is coming surprisingly early, with Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon revealing the September 23-25 date over the weekend just gone.
For those who don't know, last year's big Qualcomm reveal was the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, which powers most of the top picks from our guide to the best gaming phones, including the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. With that in mind, we're anticipating the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 to debut during the Snapdragon Summit 2025. If Apple sticks to its usual release schedule, this reveal could take place just a couple of weeks after the introduction of the iPhone 17 series.
With the early arrival of the next flagship Snapdragon chip, we might also see brands that often utilize the latest Qualcomm processors, such as Xiaomi and Samsung, also launch their next-generation flagship phones earlier as well. It's not a certainty, and Samsung especially seems unlikely to forgo its tradition of January launches, especially with the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE still yet to arrive, but it's a possibility. Given that some reports suggest performance boosts of up to 26% from the new chip compared to the current Snapdragon flagship, we'd expect to see a few companies opt to use the new chip.
At the time of writing, we're not sure exactly why this year's Snapdragon Summit is coming early. In both 2023 and 2024, the event took place in late October, so it seems like there must be a reason to bring it forward by a whole month. We're also not sure of the name of the new chip, but given Qualcomm's naming conventions, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 makes sense. Whatever it's called, it's likely to power even more impressive performance in all the best mobile games than the already stellar 8 Elite offers, and that's cause for some excitement.
For more on the latest tech, be sure to check out our guides to the best Android phones and the best gaming tablets while you're here. Or, if you're more excited for the Nintendo Switch 2 release date than you are the Snapdragon Summit, see our Nintendo Switch 2 hands-on preview to prepare for the big launch.