Qualcomm is launching a chip that would suit the Galaxy S26 FE

A couple of months ago, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 during the Snapdragon Summit 2025. However, it did not launch the chip back then. Now, the company has announced that it will launch the chip later this month, and it could be perfect for the Galaxy S26 FE.

Qualcomm has announced that it will launch the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 in China on 26 November. It is a step below the company's current flagship mobile chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. So what is the difference between the two chips and how different would their performance be?

Well, both chips are fabricated on TSMC's 3nm process, but the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 would have lower clock speeds for the CPU and the GPU. It has a 2+6 CPU core configuration. Its two prime CPU cores are clocked at 3.8GHz, while the six performance CPU cores are running at 3.32GHz. In comparison, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5's two prime CPU cores are clocked at 4.6GHz and six performance CPU cores run at 3.62GHz.

Tipster Digital Chat Station says that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 has the same Adreno 840 GPU as the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, but its performance would be slightly weaker due to lower clock speeds. It will likely be compatible with LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.x storage. It could feature a 5G modem, multi-band GNSS, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, aptX Lossless, and USB 3.2 Type-C.

Qualcomm could reveal more details about its upcoming chip later this month. Its overall performance will likely be lower than the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 but still higher than last year's Snapdragon 8 Elite. So, it would be a great fit for the variant of the Galaxy S26 FE that will be launched in Canada, China, and the USA.

The Galaxy S26 and the Galaxy S26+ are said to feature Samsung's first 2nm chip, the Exynos 2600, in global markets and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in Canada, China, and the USA. The Galaxy S26 Ultra will likely use the 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 worldwide.