Qualcomm will hold its annual Snapdragon Summit event this month. The company is expected to officially unveil the highly anticipated Snapdragon 8 Elite chip (aka Snapdragon 8 Gen 4) on the first day of the event (October 21). There are high expectations in the tech industry regarding Qualcomm’s next-gen flagship SoC. Moreover, analysts suggest that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip will see a significant year-on-year increase in shipments.
Snapdragon 8 Elite/Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 shipments expected to significantly increase
The Snapdragon 8 Elite will mark a milestone for the brand’s chipsets by inheriting the custom Oryon cores. “Oryon” is an architecture originally designed for ARM-powered computers. Leaked benchmarks of devices like the OnePlus 13 and Galaxy S25 Ultra showed that the chip will be a powerhouse. The leaks also claim that the SoC will be significantly more expensive than the previous generation. However, it seems that this will not affect the demand from Android manufacturers.
Ming-Chi Kuo, a renowned industry analyst, estimates that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4/Snapdragon 8 Elite will see an impressive 50% YoY shipment growth compared to its predecessor. The report anticipates Qualcomm to ship approximately 9 million units of the flagship SoC in 2024 alone.
Factors that play in favor of Qualcomm
Kuo’s analysis mentions a few factors that will contribute to the increased demand for the chip. One of the main ones will be Samsung’s need to turn to Qualcomm for the flagship SoC in all of its Galaxy S25 models. According to recent reports, Samsung has already ruled out using Exynos chips in the lineup. Additionally, Samsung has modified its plans to use the Dimensity 9400 in both the vanilla and Plus Galaxy S25 models. Now Samsung will turn to Mediatek’s flagship SoC for the Galaxy S25 FE later next year.
The Galaxy S series usually boasts healthy sales every year, so demand for the more powerful next-gen Snapdragon chip will benefit from this. The steady growth of the Chinese smartphone market is also another factor to consider. Flagship phones from big Chinese brands tend to rely on Qualcomm’s hardware. In fact, Kuo estimates an increase in the market share of flagship phones in China by the end of 2024, reaching 30–35%. For reference, flagship phones took 25-30% of the Chinese smartphone market in 2023.
The industry’s recovery will continue in 2025
Furthermore, the recovery trend in the smartphone industry will continue. After a difficult time due to multiple factors, annual smartphone sales figures have been increasing healthily. Kuo predicts that the Chinese smartphone market alone will reach 280 million units by 2024, marking a 3% year-on-year growth. Lastly, the analyst also expects growth to continue in 2025.
