By Claus Hetting, WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman
Snapdragon Summit, Maui, Hawaii, September 22, 2026: Qualcomm this week unveiled its Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 mobile platforms, both designed to work with the previously announced FastConnect 8800 Wi-Fi 8 connectivity platform. Qualcomm partners including Xiaomi and Motorola also announced or previewed new flagship smartphones based on the new Snapdragon platforms.
Wi-Fi may be the somewhat less glamorous ‘plumbing’ behind Qualcomm’s latest generation of Snapdragon platforms, but there was no question about its importance this week at Snapdragon Summit in Maui. Qualcomm President & CEO Cristiano Amon says connectivity is “more important than ever” as the mobile industry – and client devices more broadly – enters the age of agentic AI.
The agentic AI experience needs to be personal, proactive, responsive, trusted and – above all – effortless, Cristiano Amon said. AI agents will need to communicate continuously with cloud services, nearby devices, peripherals, and other AI-enabled systems. That arguably makes reliable, low-latency wireless connectivity – which is exactly the recipe for Wi-Fi 8 – an increasingly important part of the overall Qualcomm mobile platform. Cristiano Amon gave multiple examples of how an AI agent will understand intent and take the role of a kind of sophisticated personal assistant, advising you on a wide range of tasks. It can do this – he said – because “your phone knows you best”.
Xiaomi, Motorola, and others announce flagship phones
Multiple Qualcomm partners announced or previewed phones based on the new Snapdragon platforms, paving the way for what is expected to become the first generation of Wi-Fi 8-capable flagship smartphones.
Xiaomi announced that its upcoming premium phones will use both the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 platforms, although the company did not provide release dates for the new devices. Meanwhile, Motorola used Snapdragon Summit to provide a first look at its new Signature 27 smartphone, powered by Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. The company says the device will launch in markets worldwide later in 2026, with further details to be announced closer to availability. Other OEMs expected to launch phones based on the new Snapdragon platforms include HONOR, iQOO, OPPO, REDMI, RedMagic, and vivo.
While the use of Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon platforms positions these devices for Qualcomm’s latest connectivity technologies, Wi-Fi 8 support will ultimately depend on the connectivity configuration selected by each device manufacturer.
Qualcomm’s current FastConnect 8800 platform (released at this year’s Mobile World Congress and covered by WiFi NOW here) delivers 4×4 Wi-Fi, up to 11.6 Gbps peak PHY rate, up to three times longer gigabit range (under Qualcomm’s stated test conditions) with Wi-Fi 8 ELR, and features Bluetooth HDT, UWB, Thread, and ‘Proximity AI’. According to Qualcomm, FastConnect 8800 is the world’s first mobile Wi-Fi connectivity platform to support a 4×4 radio configuration.
Enhanced Long Range (ELR) is a Wi-Fi 8 feature designed to maintain reliable connectivity under weak signal and low-SNR conditions while ‘Proximity AI’ is Qualcomm’s term for using local wireless technologies – particularly UWB, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi – together with AI-driven capabilities to give devices greater awareness of distance, direction, and their spatial relationship with nearby devices.
Aside from faster and better platforms, what perhaps captures the essence of the event best is this statement from Qualcomm’s just released blog here: “The move to on-device AI changed what devices could do. The transition now underway feels different because it changes the relationship between people and technology itself. We’re moving from interacting with tools to collaborating with systems that can understand intent, maintain context and help us take action.”
/Claus.
