Qualcomm’s recent unveiling of the Snapdragon 8 Elite has sparked immediate interest within the tech community, particularly among the Linux kernel team, which has swiftly responded with a series of patches for the new chipset. This proactive approach suggests that the Snapdragon 8 Elite is poised to support PC gaming through emulation, a promising avenue while the development of native titles for the platform is still underway.
It will also be possible to run professional PC applications on devices featuring the Snapdragon 8 Elite thanks to ‘day one’ Linux support
The Director of Engineering at Qualcomm shared insights on social media, revealing that the Snapdragon 8 Elite is designed to handle PC-emulated games seamlessly. However, it’s important to note that this capability may not fully utilize the chipset’s potential, as the current selection of newer titles available on Android remains limited. The challenge lies in persuading developers to invest time in porting these games, making emulation the most viable option for the time being.
Recent benchmark tests, such as the 3DMark Steel Nomad Light, have demonstrated that the Snapdragon 8 Elite surpasses the performance of AMD’s Radeon 780M found in the ASUS ROG Ally, indicating its capability to run AAA games, albeit with some visual settings adjusted. Discussions on social media suggest that the enhancements offered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite could pave the way for a Linux user interface equipped with touch and pen support. This advancement would enable a broader range of mobile devices and tablets to run professional PC applications, a feature already seen in select iPad models.
@cozy_OSS @4k_isn it seems the 8 elite already has a full linux support on day one (which means the pc emulator won’t have issues on it) while for the GPU side, it seem turnip is working on some patches pic.twitter.com/3v2A2VpzIj
— RichardMiller (@Richard_Milier) October 26, 2024
While Qualcomm’s strides in hardware innovation with the Snapdragon 8 Elite are commendable, there remains a considerable journey ahead in the software domain. As the ecosystem evolves, the anticipation for AAA games and enhanced applications on this platform continues to grow, leaving enthusiasts eager for further developments.
