Qualcomm Unveils New Snapdragon Chips With On-Device AI at the Core

Qualcomm has launched two new flagship smartphone processors, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, as it pushes to make on-device AI more capable and personalised.

The new chips are designed to support AI agents that can understand user behaviour, distinguish between speakers and build local memory from device usage. Qualcomm said the chips can run small AI models of up to 200 million parameters through a new sensing hub, while the higher-end Extreme variant can run a 30-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts (MoE) model locally. The launch comes as chipmakers increasingly focus on running AI workloads directly on smartphones rather than relying entirely on cloud infrastructure.

The capability puts Qualcomm alongside other chipmakers working to bring larger AI models to consumer devices. Apple, for instance, introduced a 20-billion-parameter MoE model as part of its third-generation foundation models at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

“AI will now require the device to do much more than just execute commands, and it’s going to be less about navigating apps, and it’s going to be about completing tasks for you,” Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said in his keynote speech at the Snapdragon Summit. 

Qualcomm is also targeting AI-powered personalisation through the new sensing hub. The company said it can run models with up to 200 million parameters, allowing smartphones to handle tasks such as speaker identification and local transcription without sending all the data to the cloud.

According to the company, the chips can run a complete voice-in, voice-out AI agent locally, using a user’s interactions to build memory and offer more personalised suggestions and task automation. This allows more AI processing to happen directly on the smartphone.

The processor brings pixel-level camera control, improved stabilisation and motion understanding. The Extreme version supports 8K recording at 60fps and 4K at 240fps, as well as Qualcomm’s APV codec. Both chips use AI to improve vocals and reduce background noise during calls, with Voice Bubble designed to isolate the user’s voice.

Motorola has already announced a smartphone using the new platform. The Motorola Signature 27 will run on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, with general availability expected later this year.

The launch is part of Qualcomm’s broader push to make smartphones a central platform for AI. The company has been working on more than 40 AI-focused devices, while the smartphone industry continues to explore how much AI processing it can shift from the cloud to devices themselves.