Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 vs Snapdragon 8s Gen 3: How Much Faster is the Higher-End Chip

Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 was released more than two years after Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, yet it significantly lags behind in benchmarks. In 3DMark Wild Life Extreme, smartphones with Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 achieve approximately 2.5 times higher scores. These SoCs are originally designed for different categories: Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 targets the mid-range segment, while Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is aimed at more powerful smartphones.

Key Differences

The identical 4-nm TSMC process does not make these chips close in performance. Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 uses older Cortex-A78 and Cortex-A55 cores, while Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 features Cortex-X4, Cortex-A720, and Cortex-A520.

Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 belongs to the higher-end Snapdragon 8 series. The platform is equipped with the Snapdragon X70 modem with download speeds up to 6.5 Gbps, FastConnect 7800 with Wi-Fi 7, and hardware-accelerated ray tracing. (qualcomm.com)

Benchmarks in Real Smartphones

Geekbench 6 and AnTuTu results for all four models are taken from a single database.

Honor X80 Pro Max and Redmi Note 17 Pro Max show similar results: around 1.01 million in AnTuTu 11 and 1,100-1,180 in Geekbench 6 Single-Core. (nanoreview.net)

POCO F6 and realme GT 6 score around 1.8 million in AnTuTu 11 and approximately 1,900 in Geekbench 6 Single-Core. (nanoreview.net)

On average, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is faster by:

• 69% in Geekbench 6 Single-Core;
• 38% in Geekbench 6 Multi-Core;
• 78% in AnTuTu 11.

Smartphone Prices

Prices are provided as a reference since models were released at different times and sold in different markets.

Honor X80 Pro Max was launched in China with a starting price of 1,999 yuan, about $295 at the time of announcement, but import offers start around $431. Redmi Note 17 Pro Max was released on the global market with a starting price of $499. (honor.com)

POCO F6 is significantly older and dropped to about $338 by September 2026, while the realme GT 6 can be found starting at around $455. Therefore, the prices of specific models do not directly reflect the value of the Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 and Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 platforms. (kimovil.com)

3DMark: The Advantage of Snapdragon 8s Gen 3

In 3DMark Wild Life Extreme, the difference between the platforms is even more pronounced. A reliable result for Honor X80 Pro Max in this test is not available, so it is not included in the table.

In these devices, Adreno 735 shows approximately 2.5 times higher performance than Adreno 812.

A higher number for Adreno 812 does not imply higher performance compared to Adreno 735. The advantage of Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is more pronounced in gaming than in CPU tests. Qualcomm also claims hardware-accelerated ray tracing and a set of Snapdragon Elite Gaming features for this platform. (qualcomm.com)

Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 significantly underperforms in demanding 3D graphics. In less demanding games, its performance is sufficient, but in heavy projects, settings often need to be reduced.

CPU: Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is Faster by 38-69%

The main core of Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is the Cortex-X4 with a frequency of up to 3.0 GHz. Additionally, four performance cores Cortex-A720 operate at frequencies of up to 2.8 GHz.

Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 has four performance cores Cortex-A78 that run at up to 2.6 GHz. The older Cortex-A78 cores significantly lag behind in performance compared to Cortex-X4 and Cortex-A720, which means that the later release of Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 does not provide it with a computational speed advantage.

In Geekbench 6 Single-Core, the difference reaches approximately 69%. High single-threaded performance is especially important for applications and games that heavily rely on the speed of individual cores.

In Multi-Core, the advantage of Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 narrows to 38%, but it remains substantial.

Connectivity and Wireless Interfaces

Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 supports the newer Bluetooth 6.0, Wi-Fi 7, and 5G Release 17. The maximum download speed over the mobile network is 2.8 Gbps. (qualcomm.com)

Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 features Bluetooth 5.4, but its Snapdragon X70 modem supports downloads of up to 6.5 Gbps compared to 2.8 Gbps for Snapdragon 6 Gen 5. Both platforms support Wi-Fi 7. (docs.qualcomm.com)

However, support for a feature by the SoC does not guarantee its presence in a smartphone. For example, Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 is capable of working with Wi-Fi 7, but Honor X80 Pro Max is equipped with Wi-Fi 6. The manufacturer may not utilize all capabilities of the platform. (fonearena.com)

Conclusion

Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is significantly faster than Snapdragon 6 Gen 5, despite being released earlier. The gap is particularly large in graphics performance, while the CPU advantage reaches 69%.

Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 supports the newer Bluetooth 6.0 and is aimed at mid-range smartphones, but it noticeably lags behind Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 in performance.

A smartphone powered by Snapdragon 6 Gen 5 should be considered if it outperforms competitors in price, battery life, display, or camera. At a similar price, Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is preferable for gaming and heavy applications.