Why I’m choosing non-Elite performance for my next smartphone

Qualcomm has not one but two top-tier chipsets to pick from for 2026 flagship Android handsets. First, we had the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which packs the company’s most powerful CPU, GPU, and AI components into a cutting-edge manufacturing process. It’s the best of the best, but it doesn’t come cheap.

If you don’t want to spend a small fortune on your next flagship, Qualcomm has now announced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 to tempt you with. It boasts many of the same…