In pursuit of a big benchmark win, Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 doesn’t merely hunt performance; it’s taking direct aim at the one realm where iPhones have ruled for years: video. The marquee addition is first-in-mobile support for the Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec, a near-lossless recording format supported by Samsung and now enabled at the silicon level. Coupled with a revised 20‑bit camera pipeline and improved audio capture, the chip aims to let Android flagships serve as credible pro‑video rigs.
Yes, the much-ballyhooed CPU, GPU, and AI advancements are present. But the more meaningful story is what those gains can unlock: higher-fidelity footage, better dynamic range, and more consistent sustained performance on long video shoots — without the thermal downward spirals that ruin takes.
APV codec brings near‑lossless capture to Android
APV is built for creators who don’t want to be shackled by file sizes, and need that all-important grading headroom. Samsung has previously referred to APV as “perceptually lossless,” and Qualcomm describes it as “near‑lossless,” which allows capture of highlights and shadows and fine-tuning color in post. It’s a bit of a prosumer equivalent to Apple’s ProRes/Log workflows, but tailored for the Android camera stack and implemented at the OS level starting with Android 16.
Storage is the real limitation on any high-bitrate format. According to Samsung, APV may require up to 20% less storage than HEVC in some scenarios, but the actual savings will depend on a number of factors. AV1 is still a highly efficient codec for distribution and even, on some devices, capture — but built-in camera encode support for AV1 remains rare among mobile chipsets. That is, APV may be the format most developers are able to use on Android this year.
Caveat: we need editor support to follow. How quickly APV is adopted by tools such as Adobe Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and mobile NLEs will determine how soon it becomes a go‑to workflow. With Qualcomm as its backer and an important Android OEM rallying behind it, plug‑ins and native support can’t be too far off—particularly if default camera app pro modes reliably expose APV.
An all‑computational video pipeline for cleaner footage
Outside of the codec, Qualcomm has re‑architected the capture stack. The ISP is beefed up for 20‑bit processing (from 18‑bit), resulting in up to four times the dynamic range, according to the company. That’s important for sunsets, concert shots, and mixed‑light locales — scenes where phones usually clip highlights and muddy shadows.
New “Dragon Fusion” tech, designed with computational imaging specialist ArcSoft, treats each video frame as a photo: some fancy‑pants AI tone mapping, better color science, and shored-up highlight/shadow handling are all on the table.
If OEMs make full use of the pipeline, low‑light noise, chroma smearing, and flicker will be reduced.
Audio is no less important than pixels. You can sense a pro‑level recording experience with features like wind rejection, audio zoom, and HDR audio. Qualcomm goes so far as to say it could replace external shotgun or lav mics in a lot of situations — an ambitious claim, but perhaps manageable in controlled environments. It’s worth noting that several capabilities may have hardware dependencies (including piezoelectric MEMS microphones), so your mileage will vary as to what you find on the phone.
Performance Headroom for Longer, Smoother Shoots
Inside, you still get a 2+6 configuration, with peak clocks boosted up to 4.6GHz, while Qualcomm promises that you’ll see 20% better performance than its previous generation and that overall it’s 35% more efficient, leading to overall power savings and longer battery life. Translation: more stable capture sessions and fewer thermal throttling dips during long 4K/120 runs.
The Adreno GPU gains are similarly pragmatic: up to 23% faster and 20% more power‑efficient with a new 18MB Adreno High Performance Memory cache developers can target for smoother, longer‑lasting gameplay — and, by extension, steadier camera effects assisted by the GPU.
Qualcomm says it’s partnering with studios including miHoYo, NetEase, and Tencent. In addition to better gaming experiences, you can look for those optimizations to pay off for real‑time previews and effects in camera apps, too.
AI silicon gets a big lift.
Our newest Hexagon NPU is 37% faster with 16% better power efficiency, and now supports INT2 precision to run even larger models on‑device. That upgrade can mean better stabilization, scene segmentation, relighting, and background cleanup without shipping data to the cloud. Hardware matrix acceleration on the CPU also doesn’t hurt when workloads have to fall back from the NPU.
Connectivity and storage, first phones to get it
Based on TSMC’s 3nm N3P process and attached to faster UFS 4.1 storage, the platform also supports the X85 modem (up to 12.5Gbps down, 3.7Gbps up) as well as the FastConnect 7900 suite with Wi‑Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, and optional UWB—while saving more power than before.
That stack should improve fast offloads of those large APV files and more dependable wireless monitoring on set.
First to join the scene is Xiaomi’s 17 series, which will soon be joined by Samsung, OnePlus, HONOR, vivo, and more from OPPO and ASUS ROG. Most likely, some of the Galaxy S‑series models will sport this chip, too, marking a broader effort to bring advanced video features as standard to Android flagships.
Bottom line: what Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 means for video
If OEMs ship APV in their ‘pro’ modes, lean into the 20‑bit pipeline, and deliver the promised audio upgrades, Android has a credible path to compete with Apple for its video reputation. Regarding the hardware, it’s all there; now it’s just a matter of waiting for some refinement and ecosystem support from camera apps and editors.
