The smartphone world is becoming a rapidly growing giant sector. This growth has created intense competition in the processor world that powers these devices. While Apple produces the most powerful processors, the Android side is gradually closing the gap.

Snapdragon 8 Elite Surpasses Apple A18 Pro in Multi-Core Tests

Qualcomm previously used the Snapdragon 8 Gen series for flagship smartphones. The flagship model expected to be released this year was rumored to be the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, but Qualcomm surprised everyone by introducing the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

The performance of the Snapdragon 8 Elite has seen a significant increase compared to its predecessor. It offers a 45% improvement in CPU performance in both single-core and multi-core tests, as well as a 44% improvement in power efficiency.

According to Fonearena, in some tests of Geekbench 6, the Snapdragon 8 Elite surpassed the A18 Pro, the processor of the iPhone 16 Pro Max. While it trails the A18 Pro, which powers the Pro models of the iPhone 16 series, it outperforms the A18 Pro in multi-core tests.

Specifications Comparison: Snapdragon 8 Elite vs. Apple A18 Pro

Feature	Snapdragon 8 Elite	Apple A18 Pro
Manufacturing Process	3nm	3nm
Architecture	Oryon (Qualcomm’s design)	Customized Apple design
Core Count	8 (2x performance, 6x efficiency)	Apple generally does not disclose core count, but is known to be more efficient despite having fewer cores.
Clock Speed	Up to 4.32 GHz (performance cores)	Variable, generally slightly lower than Snapdragon.
GPU	Adreno 830	Customized Apple GPU
AI	Hexagon NPU	Apple Neural Engine
Modem	Snapdragon X80 5G	Apple 5G modem
RAM Support	LPDDR5X	LPDDR5X
Evaluation	Used in Android flagships, offers strong performance and AI features.	Used in iPhones, provides energy efficiency and performance optimized with integrated software.