Qualcomm is reportedly preparing to launch a new tier in its Snapdragon 8-series, with a leaked chip dubbed the Snapdragon 8 Plus expected to arrive in late 2025.

The chip, revealed by Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station, is said to sit just below the upcoming flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 but could deliver near-flagship performance at a more affordable price.

Unlike previous “Plus” variants, this one is shaping up to be a major departure.

The chip will reportedly feature a fully custom CPU design using Qualcomm’s in-house Oryon cores – originally introduced in the Snapdragon 8 Elite – built entirely around large cores running at speeds above 3GHz.

Manufactured on TSMC’s advanced N3P (3nm) process, the Snapdragon 8 Plus is also tipped to share key components with the Elite 2, including the same next-gen GPU architecture.

This could make it an attractive option for premium Android devices that don’t want to push into ultra-premium price territory.

Device makers are not wasting any time.

Oppo, Vivo and OnePlus are already rumoured to be testing phones powered by the new chip, with some prototypes packing batteries as large as 8,000mAh – hinting at a new wave of performance-focused handsets with seriously extended battery life.

The Snapdragon 8 Plus is expected to debut in the fourth quarter of 2025.

While Qualcomm has not confirmed the chip’s existence, the growing number of leaks suggests that the SM8845 will play a key role in reshaping the high-end Android market by the end of the year.

Qualcomm’s true flagship for late 2025, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, is set for official unveiling at the Snapdragon Summit on September 23.

The chip builds on last year’s success with third-generation Oryon cores, pushing clock speeds up to 4.74GHz for Samsung’s “for Galaxy” variant.

The Elite 2 also boasts a new Adreno 840 GPU with a 30% performance boost and advanced memory support.

Benchmarks leaked so far suggest a 25-30% improvement in single-core and 10-15% in multi-core CPU performance over the original Elite.

Together, the Snapdragon 8 Plus and Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 will give Android users a range of flagship-grade options, from sub-premium to ultra-premium, coming before the end of 2025.

In other news, Qualcomm’s shares fell more than 6% despite a 10% year-on-year revenue increase to US$10.4 billion (A$16 billion) in its fiscal third quarter, as smartphone chip sales came in below expectations.