This phone manufacturer is tipped to be the first to use the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 AP

Qualcomm's first 3nm smartphone application processor (AP), the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, won't be unveiled until October but we can already tell you which phone manufacturer is expected to be first in line to use the chipset. "X" leaker Yogesh Brar says in a tweet that Xiaomi has the exclusive first launch rights for the latest and greatest Snapdragon AP. Brar adds that after Xiaomi, OnePlus and iQOO will be next.

Xiaomi is expected to use the new chipset to power the Xiaomi 15 and Xiaomi 15 Pro while the OnePlus 13 will also employ the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. As for iQOO, we should see the chipset under the hood of the iQOO 13. Of course, the Samsung Galaxy S25 flagship series will also get the "for Galaxy" version of the chip. Qualcomm's silicon would be expected to drive the Galaxy S25 Ultra in all markets, and the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+ in the U.S. and China. In other markets, the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+ will be equipped with the Exynos 2500 which also will be unveiled in October.

Consumers should be concerned about one feature related to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. It will be the most expensive smartphone chipset offered by Qualcomm. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 AP will reportedly eliminate the low-power efficiency cores, something that MediaTek successfully tried with the Dimensity 9300 SoC that powers the Vivo X100 series. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is expected to include 2 big Phoenix CPU cores and 6 medium Phoenix CPU cores. The small CPU cores, which usually run less complex tasks to save battery life, will not be used. 

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 AP will be manufactured by TSMC using its second-generation 3nm process node (N3E). Already there has been speculation about which foundry will build the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 SoC. In February, Qualcomm asked both TSMC and Samsung Foundry to build 2nm Snapdragon prototypes. There also has been some discussion about Qualcomm dual-sourcing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 with the chipset being built by both TSMC and Samsung Foundry.