Qualcomm has laid the groundwork to extend artificial intelligence (AI) experiences, which had centered on smartphones, to watches and eyewear through the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy. At Galaxy Unpacked on the 22nd, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, along with Snapdragon Wear Elite and Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1, were simultaneously adopted in Samsung Electronics' new Galaxy flagship lineup, drawing assessments that Qualcomm's AI ecosystem has expanded.
◇ Personal AI that extends to watches and eyewear
According to the industry on the 11th, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 supports "agentic artificial intelligence (AI)" that understands situations like a person and acts on its own. A smartphone autonomously learns a user's usual behavior patterns to anticipate what they intend to do next and proactively suggests the necessary information or functions.
In particular, the newly added "Now Nudge" feature in the Galaxy S26 series stands out. It analyzes the content on the screen in real time and suggests actions that could help at the needed moment. Because it runs directly on the smartphone rather than on an internet server, it is also considered an advantage that personal data does not leave the device.
Personalized AI experiences are not confined to smartphones. Snapdragon Wear Elite in Samsung Galaxy Watch9 and Watch Ultra2 continuously gathers and analyzes various sensor data such as heart rate and movement. Because a watch is worn on the wrist all day, it is designed to consume little power.
The same applies to Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1. Since it must process camera and sensor data in real time inside a device as small and light as glasses, it was built with a focus on efficiency to last long even on a small battery. Even with the same AI features, separate, optimized chips are placed to match each device's size and battery capacity. Chip design that seamlessly connects phones, watches, and glasses into a single AI experience is at the core of Qualcomm's AI ecosystem strategy.
◇ Third-generation Orion CPU customized for Galaxy
Behind this AI performance, the third-generation custom Qualcomm Orion central processing unit (CPU) for mobile plays a pivotal role. For AI to learn and make decisions in real time inside a smartphone, processing speed and power efficiency must both be supported. Compared with the previous generation, this product's CPU performance improved by about 19% to 20%, graphics processing unit (GPU) performance by up to 23% to 24%, and the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) performance, which handles AI computation, by 37%. In benchmarks that reflect real-world performance, the web responsiveness metric rose 56.9%, and the overall performance score increased 42.1%.
Orion does not simply take Arm's reference design commonly used by other manufacturers as-is. Only the instruction set is compatible with Arm, while the internal design is a proprietary core newly drawn by Qualcomm from scratch, which differentiates it. The roots of this design trace back to Nuvia, a semiconductor startup acquired in 2021. Its founding team included the person who oversaw core design for Apple's iPhone A-series chips, and comprised engineers from Apple, Google, and Arm. The industry says that by securing top-tier design talent through this acquisition, Qualcomm redesigned the Orion—initially built for PCs—for mobile and has increased its completeness with each generation.
A Qualcomm official said, "Snapdragon is evolving beyond a processor for smartphones into a platform that connects phones, watches, and eyewear into a single AI experience," adding, "Ensuring that users feel consistent performance and connectivity no matter which device they use is the core of the Snapdragon ecosystem strategy."