Snapdragon Summit 2026: Qualcomm bets on agentic smartphones

At Snapdragon Summit 2026 Qualcomm unveiled a two-tier strategy: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 for mainstream flagships and 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 for maximum AI workloads. The company is betting on "agentic" smartphones with hybrid AI, with Xiaomi, Honor and Motorola already tuning their software for the new chips.

• Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 targets mainstream flagships, Extreme Gen 6 handles top AI workloads
• Xiaomi HyperOS 4 cut per-frame gaming power consumption by 38.1% on the new chip
• Honor's Magic Mind handles tasks spanning more than 100 steps
• Mastercard partnership builds a trusted commerce foundation for AI agent payments