Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 vs M5 (iPad)

We compared the 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (Adreno 840) with the newer 10-core Apple M5 (iPad) (custom) SoC. Here you will find the pros and cons of each chip, technical specs, and comprehensive tests in benchmarks, like AnTuTu and Geekbench.

Review

General comparison of performance, power consumption, and other indicators
CPU Performance
Single and multi-core processor tests
Gaming Performance
GPU performance in games and OpenCL/Vulkan
Battery life
Efficiency of battery consumption
NanoReview Score
Overall chip score

Key Differences

Main differences and advantages of each chip
Pros of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
  • Shows better (up to 16%) AnTuTu 11 score – 3950K vs 3396K
Pros of Apple M5 (iPad)
  • Supports 80% higher memory bandwidth (153 against 84.8 GB/s)
  • Has 2 more cores
  • Higher GPU frequency (~25%)

Benchmarks

Performance tests in popular benchmarks

AnTuTu 11

The AnTuTu Benchmark measures CPU, GPU, RAM, and I/O performance in different scenarios
3396957
CPU 1112833 965229
GPU 1494722 1313129
Memory 442350 458312
UX 900177 660296
Total score 3950082 3396957
Samples [283 tests] [3 tests]
AnTuTu results from iOS and Android are not directly comparable! They won't affect NanoReview scores.

GeekBench 6

The GeekBench test shows raw single-threaded and multithreaded CPU performance
Single-Core Score
Multi-Core Score
Asset compression 421.8 MB/sec 576.8 MB/sec
HTML 5 Browser 238 pages/sec 374.9 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 286.6 Mpixels/sec 380 Mpixels/sec
Image detection 330.6 images/sec 452.7 images/sec
HDR 308.4 Mpixels/sec 549.3 Mpixels/sec
Background blur 40.7 images/sec 55 images/sec
Photo processing 98.7 images/sec 161.4 images/sec
Ray tracing 14.1 Mpixels/sec 18.3 Mpixels/sec
Samples 79 tests 4 tests
Compute Score (GPU)
Background blur 51.9 images/sec 153 images/sec
Face detection 24.9 images/sec 177.6 images/sec
Horizon detection 0.72 Gpixels/sec 2.22 Gpixels/sec
Edge detection 1 Gpixels/sec 2.84 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian blur 2.04 Gpixels/sec 5.76 Gpixels/sec
Feature matching 0.36 Gpixels/sec 0.95 Gpixels/sec
Stereo matching 115.4 Gpixels/sec 188 Gpixels/sec
Particle physics 4390.2 FPS 6580.5 FPS
API Vulkan Metal
Samples 50 tests 4 tests
Compute results use different APIs (Metal vs Vulkan/OpenCL) and are not directly comparable!

3DMark

A cross-platform benchmark that assesses graphics performance in Vulkan (Metal)
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Score 2737 4104
Stability 67% 71%
Graphics test 20 FPS 30 FPS
3DMark Solar Bay
Score 12156 17310
Graphics test 46 FPS 66 FPS
Section 1 52 FPS 88 FPS
Section 2 46 FPS 63 FPS
Section 3 40 FPS 46 FPS
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Score 6490 -
Graphics test 38 FPS -

PCMark 3.0

Benchmark for evaluating overall system performance in everyday workloads
PCMark 3.0
Web score 31126 -
Video editing score 8963 -
Data manipulation score 19422 -
Photo editing score 62111 -
Writing score 40875 -
Phones tested 13 models -

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-20 (Max)AnTuTu4119955
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-13 (H1roshi)AnTuTu3530859
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-11 (Rtesh)AnTuTu3886893
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-10 (Ranit)AnTuTu3974227
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-06 (Dipshit6769)AnTuTu3835023
Apple M5 (iPad)
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-09 (patrick)AnTuTu3511739
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-12 (LBWNB)AnTuTu3396957
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-17 -> LiberoGeekBench GPU76909
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-17 -> LiberoGeekBench CPU4193 / 15913
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-06 (Toxicaliv)GeekBench GPU76009

Specifications

Full list of technical specifications of Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and M5 (iPad)

CPU

Architecture 2x 4.74 GHz – Oryon Gen 3 Prime
6x 3.63 GHz – Oryon Gen 3 Performance
4x 4.61 GHz –
6x 2.95 GHz –
Cores 8 10
Frequency 4610 MHz 4610 MHz
Instruction set ARMv9.2-A ARMv9.2-A
L1 cache 192 KB 192 KB
L2 cache 12 MB 16 MB
L3 cache 12 MB -
Process 3 nanometers 3 nanometers
TDP (Sustained Power Limit) 8 W -
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC

Graphics

GPU name Adreno 840 -
Architecture Adreno 800 -
GPU frequency 1300 MHz 1620 MHz
Pipelines 3 -
Shading units 512 -
Total shaders 1536 -
FLOPS 3993.6 Gigaflops 4147.2 Gigaflops
Vulkan version 1.4 -
OpenCL version 3.0 -
DirectX version 12.1 -

AI Accelerator

Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Apple Neural Engine

Memory

Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory frequency 5300 MHz 4800 MHz
Bus 4x 16 Bit 8x 16 Bit
Max bandwidth 84.8 Gb/s 153 Gb/s
Max size 24 GB 24 GB

Multimedia (ISP)

Storage type UFS 4.0, UFS 4.1 NVMe
Max display resolution 3840 x 2540 2752 x 2064
Max camera resolution 1x 320MP -
Video capture 8K at 60FPS, 4K at 120FPS 4K at 60FPS
Video playback 8K at 60FPS, 4K at 120FPS 4K at 60FPS
Video codecs - H.264
- H.265
- AV1
- VP8
- VP9
- H.264
- H.265
- AV1
- VP9
Audio codecs - AAC
- AIFF
- CAF
- MP3
- MP4
- WAV
- AAC
- AIFF
- CAF
- MP3
- MP4
- WAV

Connectivity

Modem Snapdragon X85 C1X
4G support LTE Cat. 24 LTE Cat. 24
5G support Yes Yes
Download speed Up to 12500 Mbps -
Upload speed Up to 3700 Mbps -
Wi-Fi 7 7
Bluetooth 6.0 6.0
Navigation GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS

Info

Announced September 2025 October 2025
Class Flagship Flagship
Model number SM8850-AC, SM8850-5-AC, SM8850-1-AD T8142
Official page Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 official site -

Cast your vote

So, which SoC would you choose?
615 (38.7%)
975 (61.3%)
Total votes: 1590

Comments

Please give your opinion on the comparison of M5 (iPad) and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, or ask any questions
🌐 Register your profile and become part of NanoReview community!
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Why July 16, 2026 at 05:42 AM
Can anyone tell me which smartphone device has m5 Chip πŸ˜‘
+4 Reply
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Ur dad July 18, 2026 at 01:07 AM
iPad Pro only. Who says it should be on a phone? This site is made to compare all kind of cpu not only smartphone ones
+9 Reply
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LGS April 24, 2026 at 03:37 AM
There’s people in here that GENUINELY believe the snapdragon 8 elite gen 5 is close to performance against the m5. The snapdragon 8 elite is NOWHERE near the m5. The m5 is 50% better in cpu by up to 80% better if you buy the full m5 model in the iPad. It’s also up to 50% - 3x better in GPU especially in ray tracing Android sheeps keep coping harder everyday.
+33 Reply
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Psychopath June 5, 2026 at 09:16 PM
this is a laptop chip vs mobile chip so what are u isheeps being proud of here exactly?
+23 Reply
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MobileEngineer Harway August 15, 2026 at 07:47 PM
Psychopath, M5 ipad is a cutdown version of M5 actual chip. Thus the M5 chip inside the ipad is not classified as "LAPTOP" chip but falls under Mobile chip. Laptop chips are actually also a mobile chips (in Apple products) but upgraded and much more tunned for a laptop expected performance.
0 Reply
MrBiggestMan August 21, 2026 at 07:57 PM
yes, its more powerful, that's only if it wasn't restricted by iPadOS which basically makes it overpriced garbage at this point.
+1 Reply
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Mashiron March 8, 2026 at 04:13 AM
What an apple. Even thinking about purchasing one hurts. You will get similar performance at less than half the cost in snapdragon based phones. Snapdragon just started to build custom cores recently while Apple is old player. Snapdragon will overtake Apple within few years. Apple looks like a product for rich peoples to show off the brand.
+16 Reply
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Aadarsh April 24, 2026 at 02:27 AM
Abhi snapdragon will give good performance but after 8 years performance less
+8 Reply
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Phenro March 4, 2026 at 09:31 PM
Incredible. If Snapdragon had their GPU clockspeed to 2.4 ghz and added 2 more poser cores, it would basically be almost the as M5. Bellisimo
+7 Reply
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nah January 20, 2026 at 07:44 AM
So this is Android fastest chip?
+27 Reply
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Phcare December 20, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Even a19 pro almost outperform this
+1 Reply
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Emmex001 December 28, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Actually no, the A19 is not close to the m5 at allπŸ₯€, maybe an m4 or smth
+26 Reply
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Masteragebaiter November 28, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby
+36 Reply
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Liel December 19, 2025 at 09:48 AM
What do you mean hydrogen bomb vs Coughing baby first of all you failed to ragebait second thing the diffrence is barely noticeable πŸ˜‚ that's like8gen1 and 8gen2 and at most. Do you even know how to read numbers?
+7 Reply
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Emmex001 December 28, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Liel, First of all there’s a massive difference between an 8gen 1 and 8gen 2, second of all the m5 surpass the snapdragon both in single core and multi core and even if android os is currently great they ain’t as optimized as ios thats why in real world test the m4 surpasses the 8 elite gen 5 so the m5 is literally an overkill. I ain’t an apple glazer but i speak facts when i see them rather than picking one side cus you like em
+17 Reply
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Hey January 8, 2026 at 07:24 AM
One is for mobile phones, other for tablets (ipad) and laptops (macbook)
+4 Reply
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Axl February 18, 2026 at 02:07 PM
Emmex001, The M4 doesn't surpasses the snapdragon 8 elite gen 5 and also the M5 and the snapdragon 8 elite 5 have very little difference in performance and what you saying are not facts.
+1 Reply
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someone February 28, 2026 at 11:23 AM
Axl, The M5 is better and is not some different, m5 kills snapdragon
+7 Reply
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user November 24, 2025 at 09:27 PM
The truth is that the M5 processor is not easy to work with, especially in terms of actual performance and gaming tests, but Snapdragon's performance this year is very promising, making us wonder when the true power of this processor will be utilized?!
+20 Reply
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Samsung Trash December 22, 2025 at 04:39 PM
Tf bro? iPad natively run PC games and apps like DaVinci resolve and many hundreds more, and you say performance is not utilised? iPadOS 26's multitasking capabilities are much better than OneUi 8.
+14 Reply
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Emmex001 December 28, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Dude just accept facts, no matter how you hate apple or glaze snapdragon/android you can’t deny the fact that apple combination of optimized os and chipset surpass others. Even the m4 has more points than the 8elite gen 5 in overall comparison. Apple has been great at gaming since day 1 and can natively play any pc games without lags, androids just recently got good at it and it’s just a few πŸ₯€
+16 Reply
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Sky February 17, 2026 at 10:20 PM
Samsung Trash, More like ios has better optimizations than Android
+2 Reply
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Incorrect February 26, 2026 at 01:43 AM
Sky, Hahahahahahah keep dreaming
0 Reply
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Gemmart November 23, 2025 at 06:21 PM
Can we just put the fries in the bag and agree both are great? why do we always need to argue about other people's opinion?
+13 Reply
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Meh February 1, 2026 at 01:11 PM
People need to learn to ignore obvious rage bait comment lol
+4 Reply
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catchpa November 7, 2025 at 04:15 AM
M5 is the top mobile soc in 2025? in terms of Raw CPU performance i think it beats all
+15 Reply
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Clutch December 7, 2025 at 03:32 PM
Then you might as well count the Ryzen AI Max+ 395.
+16 Reply
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Samsung Trash December 22, 2025 at 04:40 PM
Clutch, Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 395 got beat by M4 Max (16core)
+6 Reply
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Adiyan January 8, 2026 at 07:25 AM
Samsung Trash, M4 Max ain't mobile. That's for the thick Macbook Pros
+2 Reply
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Nah January 20, 2026 at 07:45 AM
Adiyan, So Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 395 is mobile?
+9 Reply
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Meh October 29, 2025 at 08:46 AM
Don't mind me, i just want to see fanboy fight with each other like a good dog they are lmao
+12 Reply
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Samsung Trash October 18, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Those who even voted for Snapdragon for this are real android sheeps lol
+67 Reply
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Kip October 22, 2025 at 07:11 PM
And you are Apple sheepπŸ€―πŸ˜…πŸ’©
+25 Reply
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Sky gamer 450 October 24, 2025 at 11:27 PM
That's me alright. Proud android sheep here πŸ‘
+18 Reply
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Zephyr October 26, 2025 at 03:31 AM
Look who's talking lol
+15 Reply
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Rotten trash Apple October 27, 2025 at 01:51 PM
And you are a rotten apple sheep who just likes to ruin opinions and bring the war back like stfu bro
+11 Reply
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Emmex001 December 28, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Rotten trash Apple, You still can’t deny this fact cus whether you like it or not apple is a peak brand and it’s currently one of the best selling and influential companies in history. Apple literally surpass androids in chipset, performance, gaming, os, longevity due to the combination of optimized os, powerful chipset and constant updates even the m4 has a higher overall score than the 8 elite gen 5. Just accept that people like what they like and stop bringing in your childish characteristics of changing their opinions to some other brand you like.
+9 Reply
appleMain March 1, 2026 at 03:01 PM
Rotten trash Apple, the M4 is better than the snap 8 Elite Gen 5 in its score, but the M5 is even more powerful, and apple is setting some good trends right now
+2 Reply