Major Android upgrade confirmed this month but you'll need a new phone to get it

Android offers incredible choice for smartphone buyers with countless options depending on your needs and budget. While there are some devices that serve simple needs for as little as £200, there are those that are at the cutting edge of what mobile computing can achieve such as the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. The latter has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset inside, which is one of the most powerful in a phone to date, but it looks as though that’s about to change.

From 21 to 23 October, mobile chip maker Qualcomm is hosting its annual Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii where, for the last few years, it has announced its latest top-of-the-line mobile chipset. This chip usually goes on to feature in many premium Android phones released in the following 12 months.

It was no different after the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 was launched in October 2023. The chip is nestled inside the Galaxy S24 Ultra, OnePlus 12, Xiaomi 14 Ultra, Honor Magic 6 Pro and Galaxy Z Flip 6.

Qualcomm claimed the 8 Gen 3 was 20 percent faster than the older 8 Gen 2, while the gains in computing power went some way to encouraging many of the top Android phones in 2024 to pack in AI features that often require the best specs to work well.

Though unconfirmed, the new processor could be called the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, and the boost it’ll bring to the next generation of high end Android phones in the coming months could leave the smartphone in your pocket feeling a little outdated.

The new silicon often improves raw power so phones with it can play AAA games, multitask between apps without annoying lag and run pro-level apps for video editing or audio recording without the phone crashing.

Next-gen processors also allow Android phone manufacturers to integrate new upgrades and features such as better dynamic range in photos, AI editing tools for images, better lighting and shadows in 3D games and more besides.

Though Google, the maker of Android, opts to use its own custom Tensor chipsets in Pixel phones, the majority of Android manufacturers use Qualcomm chips including Samsung, Honor, Xiaomi, OnePlus, Asus, Oppo and Sony. That said, Qualcomm’s main rival MediaTek has just announced its newest flagship chipset the Dimensity 9400, which could feature in high end phone in place of the expected Snapdragon 8 Gen 4.

We recently tested the Xiaomi 14T Pro that has a MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ chipset and found it goes toe to toe with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and sometimes outperforms it.

So if you’ve been considering an Android phone upgrade, you might want to wait to see what Qualcomm announces later this month to see if it’s worth waiting a little longer for the next generation of Android devices with the most cutting edge internals.