Qualcomm’s annual Snapdragon Summit show is almost here, and with it, the announcement of the latest hardware from the chip giant. Qualcomm has jumped the gun a little bit though, and has already revealed the name of its newest mobile processor (via Phone Arena).
The new processor hitting a flagship phone near you soon is called the (take a deep breath) Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. That massive name is a return to a previous naming trend, and combines the two ways that Qualcomm had previously gone.
Qualcomm has changed its naming scheme again
But justifies keeping the “Elite”
Qualcomm’s naming structure has never been particularly clear. We’re talking about the company that called its flagship processors names like “Snapdragon 865″ for years, after all. But the shift to the ” Snapdragon 8 Gen 1” a few years ago felt like a name change that would stick. Unfortunately, it did not, and we inexplicably ended up with the Snapdragon 8 Elite last year. Now, Qualcomm has returned to using “Gen” with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. What happened? Did Qualcomm forget that it had previously been using a different name?
According to Qualcomm’s press release, no, it just wanted to make sure it was clear this was the big, exciting processor for flagships. Qualcomm claims that last year’s chip was so important that it deserved having its own appellation, and “Elite” highlighted it as a particularly important and powerful chip. This year, stapling “Gen 5” onto the back shows that this chip is taking the “Elite” line forwards — just don’t ask them whether this is the fifth generation of Elite chip or the second.
We don’t know what specs this new piece of hardware will tout, but it’s obvious it’ll benchmark higher than the existing Snapdragon 8 Elite.
It’s a better name
But names should stop getting bigger and bigger
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is a better name than just Snapdragon 8 Elite, as it shows a clear hierarchy within the range. This is important for consumers, as it means you don’t need to check wikis to see if your prospective new phone has the latest hardware or not. But honestly, could we just quit it with the growing names? I get why Qualcomm has gone this way — it’s an elite processor, and it’s the fifth generation of such, but “Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5” is a massive name, and at some point it starts to feel a bit silly. Granted, phones are going that way too, but we would hope other elements of the industry could hold off from just lobbing more words into names in order to seem shiny and new.
That’s a relatively minor complaint really though, and we’re very excited to see what Qualcomm has in store for us at the Snapdragon Summit next week.
