Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Gen 6 Chips Bring More AI Work Onto Phones

Qualcomm announced two flagship smartphone processors, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, focused on enabling better AI features. [1] The chips’ new sensing hubs can run small models with up to 200 million parameters and support a locally running personal scribe that distinguishes speakers. [1] Qualcomm also said the hardware can build memory from phone usage for task-automation suggestions and run a complete voice-in, voice-out agent. [1]

The Extreme chip can run a 30-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts model locally, activating only a subset of parameters for a given task. [1] By comparison, Apple released a 20-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts model at WWDC in June as the most advanced model in its third-generation foundation-model lineup. [1]

For imaging, the Extreme version supports 8K video at 60 frames per second, 4K video at 240 frames per second, and Qualcomm’s Advanced Professional Video codec. [1] Motorola said its Signature 27 smartphone will use the Extreme processor and become generally available sometime this year. [1]

Qualcomm’s clearest differentiator is the scale it says the Extreme chip can handle locally: a 30-billion-parameter MoE model, compared with Apple’s 20-billion-parameter MoE model. Because both are mixture-of-experts systems, the headline parameter count does not mean every parameter is active for each task; Qualcomm specifically says only a subset is activated. The broader package combines local agents, usage-based memory, voice processing, and professional video features, making the chip a platform for several on-device experiences rather than a single AI function. What the sources don't address: which handset makers beyond Motorola will adopt either chip, or how those local AI workloads affect battery life and sustained performance.