Yonhap and ChosunBiz quote Samsung internal tests: about 13,000 in Geekbench 6.5 multi-core versus about 11,000 for Qualcomm’s chip in the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max, plus 15% in Geekbench 7 and 20% in graphics. The numbers are not independent, and there is no thermal or power data.
Honor announced the Win2 gaming phone in China on October 21 with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, two built-in fans (20,000 and 31,000rpm), a 10,100mAh battery with 100W wired and 80W wireless charging, and a 6.89-inch 2K 185Hz display. Alongside it come the Win RT2 and Win Turbo2 with 12,070mAh batteries and a fan-cooled Win tablet. Prices start at CNY 5,499 (≈Dh3,000); availability outside China is unconfirmed.
Korean leaker Lanzuk says the Galaxy S27 series is on schedule for January 2027, "February at the latest", after the S26 slipped to early March this year. The big decisions are made for the S27 and S27+, but Samsung has not settled whether the Pro and Ultra move to LPDDR6 and UFS 5, because the memory market "heated up more than expected" and that would raise cost and price. The Ultra chip is still between the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and the Exynos 2700.
A Korean report said Samsung’s internal Galaxy S27 Ultra tests showed the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 exceeding thermal limits and throttling, putting the Exynos 2700 on the table. Qualcomm answered within a day: "recent reporting about thermal issues is inaccurate", and its CMO said there are no systemic thermal issues with the chip.
OnePlus 16 is official in China: Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, 200MP camera, 9,000mAh battery, from CNY 5,999 (~AED 3,300). No global launch yet.
Xiaomi announced the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max in China today: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 (the Extreme version in the Pro Max), a 200MP telephoto, up to 8,500mAh, and a hardware-level privacy display. The big news for the Gulf: Xiaomi confirmed the Pro series launches globally before the end of the year, unlike the China-only 17 Pro.
OnePlus revealed the OnePlus 16 design, colours and memory tiers on its Chinese store. Confirmed: system-wide 165Hz and up to 16GB/1TB. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro gets its official reveal at the Snapdragon Summit on 22 September.
