Qualcomm has introduced two new flagship smartphone processors with a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence and local AI processing.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 were announced at the company's annual Snapdragon Summit. Qualcomm says the new platforms are designed to give smartphones more personalized AI capabilities while allowing increasingly sophisticated models to operate directly on the device.

New Chips Target Personalized AI

A major focus of the new processors is improving how AI assistants understand and adapt to individual users.

Qualcomm has introduced new sensing hubs capable of running small AI models containing up to 200 million parameters.

These capabilities could allow smartphones to perform several AI tasks locally, including running a personal scribe and identifying different speakers during conversations.

The system can also build a personalized memory based on how a person uses their phone. Qualcomm says this information can help AI assistants provide more relevant recommendations and automate tasks based on individual habits.

The company also claims that the new hardware can support a complete voice-in, voice-out AI agent, allowing users to interact with an assistant through natural speech without necessarily relying on cloud processing for every operation.

More Efficient AI Model Processing

The standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 includes a new accelerator designed specifically to improve the efficiency of AI model execution.

The more powerful Extreme variant goes considerably further. Qualcomm says it can run a 30-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts (MoE) model locally on a smartphone.

MoE models contain many parameters overall but activate only a portion of them for a particular task. This allows a model with a large total parameter count to operate more efficiently than a conventional model in which all parameters are used for every request.

Qualcomm Challenges Apple's On-Device AI Progress

The new Snapdragon capabilities come as other major chip and platform companies continue pushing larger AI models onto consumer devices.

At its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple introduced a 20-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts model as part of the third generation of its foundation models.

Qualcomm's support for a locally running 30-billion-parameter MoE model therefore represents another step toward bringing increasingly capable generative AI systems directly to smartphones.

Cameras Get More Advanced Controls

AI isn't the only area receiving attention in Qualcomm's latest processors.

The new CPU platform provides pixel-level camera control, which Qualcomm says can help smartphones deliver more advanced photography and videography capabilities.

The chips also offer improvements in image stabilization and motion understanding.

The Extreme version supports video recording at 8K resolution at 60 frames per second and 4K at 240 frames per second, opening the door to high-resolution slow-motion recording.

New Professional Video Codec

Qualcomm is also introducing support for its Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec.

The technology is aimed at professional-style video recording and gives smartphone manufacturers additional options for capturing higher-quality footage directly from mobile devices.

Together with the enhanced camera processing capabilities, Qualcomm is positioning the Extreme chip as a platform for smartphones that can serve more demanding photography and video-production requirements.

AI Improves Calls and Audio

Both Snapdragon processors also use AI to improve audio quality.

The chips can enhance voices while reducing unwanted background noise during recordings and calls.

Qualcomm is additionally introducing its voice bubble technology, which is designed to isolate the user's voice from surrounding sounds during phone conversations.

The feature could be particularly useful in noisy environments where traditional noise cancellation struggles to separate speech from background activity.

Motorola Announces a New Snapdragon-Powered Phone

Motorola has already announced a smartphone using Qualcomm's new flagship hardware.

The company's Motorola Signature 27 will use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6.

Motorola said the phone is expected to become generally available sometime this year.

Qualcomm Expands Beyond Smartphones

Qualcomm's latest smartphone processors are part of a broader strategy to put its technology inside a wider range of AI-powered devices.

The company has been working on more than 40 AI devices, reflecting its effort to expand beyond conventional smartphone processors.

Despite the emergence of dedicated AI hardware, there remains a strong expectation within the technology industry that smartphones will continue to serve as the primary platform through which consumers interact with AI.

Smartphones Could Remain the Main AI Device

Some technology executives have previously suggested that consumers may not need to purchase an entirely new category of hardware to access advanced AI.

Nothing co-founder Carl Pei has expressed this view, while Apple's new CEO John Ternus recently echoed a similar perspective during the launch of the iPhone Duo.

Qualcomm's latest chips appear to follow the same direction: rather than requiring users to adopt separate AI gadgets, the company is attempting to make smartphones themselves powerful enough to handle increasingly sophisticated AI workloads locally.