Qualcomm's new chips run 30B AI models on your phone

What's the deal? QualcommDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has launched two flagship smartphone processors — the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 — with a focus on running AI features directly on devices. The company unveiled the chips at its annual Snapdragon Summit.

What's the endgame? The chips are built to power more personalised AI agents. New sensing hubs can run small models of up to 200 million parameters locally, letting phones handle a personal scribe, distinguish between speakers, and build memory from usage to suggest task automation.

Qualcomm says the chips can run a complete voice-in and voice-out agent locally. The high-end Extreme version goes further, running a 30-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts (MoE) model on-device — meaning the model activates only a subset of its parameters for any given task.

For comparison, Apple released a 20-billion-parameter MoE model at its Worldwide Developer Conference in June, the most advanced of its third generation of foundation models.

What else is new? The chips add pixel-level camera control, improved stabilisation, and motion understanding. The Extreme version supports 8K 60fps and 4K240 slow-motion video, plus the new Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec. Both chips use AI to boost vocals, cut noise, and isolate a caller's voice through new voice bubble tech.

Why now? MotorolaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → announced its Signature 27 smartphone, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, with availability expected this year.

The signal: Qualcomm has been working on more than 40 AI devices, but bets that most people will run AI on phones rather than dedicated gadgets. Nothing co-founder Carl Pei and new Apple chief executive officer John Ternus, who reinforced the point at the iPhone Duo launch this month, have echoed the same view.

Read more: TechCrunch

Image credit: Web Summit