- Qualcomm has officially launched the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 SoC with up to 5.0GHz max frequency.
- Here's our take on the list of upcoming phones with Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 SoC, from OnePlus to Samsung to Honor to Xiaomi, and beyond.
- Xiaomi 18 Pro Max took the lead marking the first phone to pack in the beefy Elite Extreme SoC and others will join the wagon soon.
Moments after Qualcomm launched its next-gen 2nm SoC, there’s already a bunch of upcoming smartphones with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 SoC awaiting their launch. Xiaomi already took the lead with the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max in China, while other smartphone makers are already in the queue to launch their first phones with the leading 2nm chipset in the coming weeks.
From OnePlus to iQOO and Nubia to Samsung, here’s the list of all the phones you should be on the lookout for powered by the beast 2nm Elite Extreme SoC from Qualcomm.
Upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 phones
Xiaomi 18 Pro Max
Launch Date: September 23, 2026
Xiaomi has successfully captured the spot as the first phone ever to be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 SoC. This is a major achievement since the flagship chipset arrived just a couple of days ago.
Succeeding Pro, the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max features a 6.9” LTPO AMOLED 4,000 nits panel and a secondary 2.9” AMOLED panel at the back. The device comes with a triple camera setup co-engineered with Leica. This includes a 200MP primary, a 200MP periscope telephoto with 3.2x optical zoom, and a tertiary 50MP ultrawide snapper. There’s a 50MP selfie camera on-board as well.
The Xiaomi 18 Pro Max has the largest battery on the series at 8,500 mAh plus 100W wired and 50W wireless charging tech.
Xiaomi has teased that although the phone arrived in China initially, it might make it to the global markets soon, including India. It could be the Xiaomi 18 Pro making it to India as well, since other reports suggest the Pro Max is China-exclusive.
Honor Magic9 Pro Max
Launch Date: September 28, 2026
Honor is preparing the Magic9 Pro Max with the Elite Extreme SoC for launch in China, but there’s no announcement for its global launch so far. The phone brings a 6.8” OLED panel, powered by a massive 8,800mAh battery, and four storage configurations up to 16GB RAM and 1TB of storage.
Honor is going big on the optics and thus presents a new triple rear camera setup on-board, including two massive 200MP snappers as primary and a super-night telephoto, co-developed with German camera maker ARRI. Honor mentions bringing the Honor H1 imaging chip for photography. You can choose from Olive Green, Silver, and Black colorways, plus a Popcorn Yellow Finish on the vanilla Magic9.
It seems like the vanilla Honor Magic9 will see the Elite Extreme SoC as well.
iQOO 16
Launch Date: September 29, 2026
Well, iQOO 16 appears to be beating OnePlus to the punch, rolling out iQOO 16 ahead of the OnePlus 16, which currently has an unknown release date sometime in October 2026.
iQOO 16 brings on-board the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 SoC, a reworked camera island with a triple rear camera setup, and a Q4 gaming chip powering the device for a better gaming experience. There’s support for up to 7 major Android OS versions on board.
On the display front, we are going to see a Samsung M16 AMOLED 6.85” 2K 165Hz panel, with LEAD 2.0 technology, that brings the peak local brightness up to 10,000 nits. It will be joining the stage with the iQOO gaming headset and iQOO Pad Ultra.
OnePlus 16
Launch Date: October 2026 (TBC)
Although we don’t have the dates as of writing this, the OnePlus 16 is coming to China sometime in October 2026 (it might have arrived before you could read this).
The OnePlus 16 will be powered by Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 (that we thought would be called Gen 6 Pro), with a max clock speed of 5.0GHz. OnePlus has channeled the Wind Chaser Gaming Kernel on-board 16 to improve the gaming experience. The phone was recently spotted on AnTuTu breaching the mark of 5.38 million points thanks to the Elite Extreme SoC.
The phone will deliver a 165Hz refresh rate globally. It means no matter the app or game you are using, it will yank the refresh rate to 185Hz wherever required, while static content will be delivered at 120Hz as usual. Configurations available at least for the Chinese market include 12/256, 12/512, 16/512, and 16/1TB. You can choose from Dark Forest, Martian Masterpiece, and Tomorrow’s Star. OnePlus is expected to reveal its launch date at the OnePlus Game Conference on September 28.
Nubia RedMagic 12 Pro+
Launch Date: October 2026 (TBC)
Well, Nubia launches their RedMagic gaming phones around the same time. We are expecting the anticipated RedMagic 12 Pro+ to make it to China in October with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 SoC. Turns out the phone could have one of the slimmest bezels on the face of this planet, i.e., 0.96mm, compared to 1.25mm on the predecessor.
The phone also brings a ninth-gen under-display cam, a massive 8,400mAh battery paired with 120W wired and 80W wireless charging tech, a triple rear camera, and up to 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM with 1TB of UFS 4.1 storage, to name a few. Nubia has refined the ergonomics of the device to suit gamers with rounded edges, redesigned shoulder buttons, and an active cooling fan under the hood, keeping the device cool.
Related
Motorola Signature 27
Launch Date: Late 2026
Motorola Signature 27 was unveiled at the Snapdragon Summit 2026, defying what the brand has been doing for quite some time now—avoiding flagship chips. With that being said, the Signature 27 is gearing up for its launch with an unusual design language on-board. It houses a 200MP periscope telephoto and a 50MP primary cam at the back, arranged horizontally, plus there are two more sensors.
Unfortunately, we know little about the phone. Reports suggest it brings a redesigned 3D vapor chamber with an ArcticMesh cooling system, a Gemini Omni model on board, and comes with seven years of major Android OS support.
Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra
Launch Date: February 2027 (Global)
Launching in early 2027, we have the Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra making its roar with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 SoC in the US, while other markets could see an in-house Exynos 2700 SoC. The device is packed with Samsung’s next-gen M16 OLED panel that offers excellent color performance, better brightness, and power efficiency. Leaked storage configurations reveal three variants, i.e., 12/256GB, 12/512GB, and 16GB/1TB. The S27 Pro and S27 Ultra will be using UFS 5.1 storage and LPDDR6 RAM.
Recent reports suggest the Galaxy S27 Ultra will be equipped with a quad-camera setup, including a 200MP primary, a 50MP ultrawide, and a 50MP telephoto snapper. There’s reportedly a 5,700mAh battery under the hood thanks to silicon-carbon tech. It is quite possible that the Galaxy S27 Pro (the latest entrant between S27 Plus and S27 Ultra) will have a Snapdragon SoC as well, although if it’s the Elite Gen 6 or Elite Extreme Gen 6, that needs a bit of vetting.
Phones with Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 SoC availability
| Models | Launch | Availability |
| Xiaomi 18 Pro Max | September 23, 2026 | First in China Global launch: TBC |
| Honor Magic9 Pro Max | September 28, 2026 | China launch confirmed Global Launch: TBC |
| iQOO 16 | September 29, 2026 | First in China Global Launch: TBC |
| OnePlus 16 | September/October 2026 | First in China Global Launch: Rumored / TBC |
| Nubia RedMagic 12 Pro+ | October 2026 | First in China Global Launch: Not yet announced |
| Motorola Signature 27 | Q4 2026 | – |
| Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra | February 2027 | Global |
| *TBC – to be confirmed |
Keep up with the tech that actually matters.
Add us as a preferred source on Google Search for quicker access to our coverage.
