OnePlus 13 to use an energy-efficient custom Snapdragon chip

The OnePlus 13 is coming this month as the brand’s next premium mobile flagship. There are high expectations surrounding the device, especially after its impressive leaked benchmark results. Now, a company executive claims that the OnePlus 13 will feature a custom Snapdragon 8 Elite chip that is more power efficient than the Apple A18 Pro.

Apart from the OnePlus 13, the Snapdragon 8 Elite’s benchmark performance has been seen on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. However, the upcoming OnePlus device delivered the most impressive results. According to Geekbench 6, the OnePlus 13 scores over 10,000 points in multi-core tests. For reference, this is 18% more powerful than the Apple A18 Pro in the same tests. On the other hand, the Galaxy S25 Ultra narrowly surpassed 9,000 points.

OnePlus 13’s custom Snapdragon 8 Elite surpasses Apple A18 Pro’s energy efficiency, executive claims

The OnePlus 13’s raw power certainly calls into question the device’s energy efficiency and thermal management. After all, impressive benchmark results are useless if the phone can’t deliver similar day-to-day performance due to thermal throttling. However, Cai Zuxuan, a OnePlus executive, claimed on Weibo that the OnePlus 13 will use a custom chip that outperforms the A18 Pro in terms of energy efficiency.

OnePlus wouldn’t be the first brand to use custom Snapdragon chips. For a few years now, Samsung has been implementing “for Galaxy” versions of Qualcomm’s most powerful SoCs in its Galaxy flagship devices. These versions offer slightly higher CPU clock speeds than the standard variant. Other manufacturers usually access this special version of the chip in the second half of the year, but with the “Pro” surname.

The OnePlus executive specifically highlights the energy efficiency of the SoC. So, it’s possible that OnePlus’ custom Snapdragon chip goes a little further than just increasing the CPU speed. However, as there are currently no specific details available, any claims made in this regard are merely conjectures. Jikanglucky, a Weibo user, revealed that the iPhone 16 Pro consumes a maximum of 12W during Geekbench tests while reaching up to 9,615 points in multi-core tests. So, if the claims are true, the OnePlus 13 should be better than that.

The device will arrive in the next few days

We won’t have to wait long to learn more about the OnePlus 13. While there is no specific day yet, the company has already confirmed that it will arrive sometime in October. So, it is likely that both official and leaked information will pop up in the coming days.