Qualcomm is rumored to be shaking up its usual flagship chipset playbook this year by launching two top-tier options instead of one: the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6. The split could give Android phone makers more flexibility in how they build and price their next premium devices, especially at a time when memory pricing and component costs are becoming harder to manage.
The biggest expected difference between the two chips is memory and storage support. Early chatter suggests the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro will be the more advanced option, bringing support for LPDDR6 RAM and UFS 5.0 storage. That alone would position it as the go-to choice for the fastest Android flagships in 2026, offering quicker data access, improved efficiency, and better overall performance headroom.
What’s attracting even more attention, though, is a new rumor claiming the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro may also remain compatible with older memory and storage standards. In other words, manufacturers might be able to pair the “Pro” chipset with LPDDR5X RAM, LPDDR5 RAM, and potentially more affordable storage configurations, rather than being forced to adopt LPDDR6 and UFS 5.0 across the board. If accurate, that’s a meaningful advantage—brands could still market a “Pro chipset” phone while controlling bill-of-materials costs, which matters a lot during ongoing supply and pricing pressures in the DRAM market.
Meanwhile, the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 is expected to be the higher-volume chip due to pricing. One rumor claims it may only support LPDDR5 RAM, which would be surprising because newer mobile platforms typically support at least LPDDR5X at the high end. There’s a chance this detail is incorrect or lost in translation, but as it stands, it suggests Qualcomm may be drawing a clearer line between the two variants than usual.
On the phone-maker side, Xiaomi is rumored to be testing the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, identified by the SM8975 model designation. However, Xiaomi’s eventual retail flagship might not launch with LPDDR6 RAM even if it uses the Pro chipset. The likely reason is cost: another tipster claims LPDDR6 could be roughly 20% more expensive than LPDDR5X, with availability possibly focused on 16GB configurations. That kind of pricing premium would make it difficult for brands to keep profit margins healthy—especially if they want to maintain aggressive pricing or spend more on other upgrades like cameras, displays, and battery tech.
The bigger picture is that Android manufacturers are trying to protect margins wherever possible, and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro could be an expensive component on its own. Qualcomm is expected to move to TSMC’s 2nm N2P process for the first time for this chip family, which may raise production costs. If the Pro model truly supports both cutting-edge and older memory/storage standards, it could help brands balance performance ambitions with real-world pricing strategies, even if the Pro chipset still ends up costing more than the non-Pro version.
For now, all details remain in the rumor stage, but the idea of a “Pro” flagship Snapdragon chip that doesn’t force every manufacturer into the newest (and priciest) RAM and storage could end up being one of the most important Android hardware storylines of the year.
