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Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy falls short in early CPU and GPU benchmarks

The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy contains a few changes from the original SM8750-AB version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite. (Image source: OnePlus)
The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy contains a few changes from the original SM8750-AB version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite. (Image source: OnePlus)
Qualcomm and Samsung have now shared details about the new Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset, codenamed SM8750-AC. Allegedly a 'completely custom' chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy falls short of hitting its overclocked CPU and GPU figures in early post-release benchmark results.

Samsung's latest flagships are now official and available to order globally. For context, while the company presented the Galaxy S25 Edge at yesterday's Galaxy Unpacked event, only the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S25 Ultra (curr. $1,299.99 on Amazon) can be pre-ordered for the time being.

While Samsung shared plenty of details about its new flagships yesterday, it spent little time on the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset that powers all three handsets. Instead, the company waited until after the event to confirm the areas in which the new 'for Galaxy' and 'SM8750-AC' chipset differs from the existing Snapdragon 8 Elite and its less powerful SM8750-3-AB variant.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy 'SM8750-AC' delivers upwards of a 6% GPU performance boost in Geekbench 6.3 Vulkan benchmarks. (Image source: Geekbench)
The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy 'SM8750-AC' delivers upwards of a 6% GPU performance boost in Geekbench 6.3 Vulkan benchmarks. (Image source: Geekbench)

According to Mishaal Rahman, Samsung claims that the SM8750-AC is 'completely custom', unlike past 'for Galaxy' chipsets. Reportedly, the new chipset works more harmoniously with Samsung's camera hardware, albeit in unspecified ways. Samsung adds that the SM8750-AC features an overclocked NPU; neither Samsung nor Qualcomm have shared specifics in this area, though.

Conversely, the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy sports 150 MHz faster Prime CPU cores than the SM8750-AB and SM8750-3-AB. Qualcomm also allows its Adreno 830 GPU to run at up to 9% faster in the SM8750-AC than in the SM8750-AB or SM8750-3-AB, courtesy of a 100 MHz boost to 1,200 MHz.

Early benchmarking results do not reflect this CPU overclock. In fact, only one run outperforms the highest single-core result we have achieved with a standard Snapdragon 8 Elite by just over 2%. By contrast, a 100 MHz clock to 1,200 MHz on the new chipset's Adreno 830 GPU allows it to achieve upwards of a 6% lead in Geekbench 6.3 Vulkan benchmarks. Samsung will not begin shipping Galaxy S25 pre-orders until early February, which is when we would expect independent reviews showing performance gains, if any, to appear online.

Qualcomm makes passing reference to the new Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy 'SM8750-AC' in its product brief. (Image source: Qualcomm)
Qualcomm makes passing reference to the new Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy 'SM8750-AC' in its product brief. (Image source: Qualcomm)
The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy appears to offer little by way of a noticeable CPU performance improvement in Geekbench. (Image source: Geekbench)
The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy appears to offer little by way of a noticeable CPU performance improvement in Geekbench. (Image source: Geekbench)
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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2025 01 > Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy falls short in early CPU and GPU benchmarks
Alex Alderson, 2025-01-23 (Update: 2025-01-23)