Qualcomm’s next flagship mobile processor has reportedly crossed the 5GHz barrier, but its first leaked benchmark result falls behind the chip it is expected to replace.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 appeared on Geekbench inside an unreleased iQOO 16 prototype carrying the model number V2606A.

The device recorded a single-core score of 3,434 and a multi-core result of 9,334 in Geekbench 6.7.1.

By comparison, average results for the current Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 sit at roughly 3,631 in single-core testing and 10,940 in multi-core workloads.

Despite the disappointing scores, the listing indicates Qualcomm’s new processor will become one of the first smartphone chips to cross the 5GHz threshold.

Its two prime CPU cores are rated at up to 5.01GHz, while three performance cores reach 4.03GHz and three efficiency cores run at 3.74GHz. Graphics are handled by a new Adreno 850 GPU.

However, Geekbench telemetry reportedly showed the processor operating at around 4.59GHz to 4.60GHz during testing, suggesting it was unable to sustain its advertised peak speed throughout the benchmark.

That may explain the weaker-than-expected multi-core result, although the test was conducted using an engineering sample running unfinished software and firmware.

Pre-production devices commonly deliver lower benchmark scores due to incomplete performance tuning, thermal management and power optimisation.

The same processor recently generated a reported AnTuTu score exceeding 4.8 million points, providing further evidence that the Geekbench result may not represent its final performance.

Qualcomm’s chip, previously rumoured to be called the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, is expected to use TSMC’s advanced 2nm N2P manufacturing process.

It could power several premium Android phones released in 2027, with Samsung’s Galaxy S27 Ultra among the devices tipped to use the processor.

MediaTek is also preparing its 2nm Dimensity 9600 Pro, although its own early Geekbench appearance produced similarly underwhelming results.

Qualcomm is expected to officially reveal the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 alongside a standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 at its Snapdragon Summit in September.