As the first month of 2026 comes to an end, AnTuTu, a well-known performance evaluation platform, officially announced the latest performance ranking of Android flagship phones. The biggest highlight of this list is the latest flagship mobile platform launched by Qualcomm: “Snapdragon 8 Extreme Edition Gen5」（Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen5). This chip not only set a record high in benchmark data, but also showed an almost dominant lead in practical applications and AI computing power.
In AnTuTu’s January 2026 flagship performance list, models equipped with Snapdragon 8 Extreme Edition Gen5 occupied eight of the top ten spots. Among them, the average running score of the number one flagship model is as high as 4,120,588 points. Compared with last year’s Gen4 version, Gen5 has a 20% increase in CPU performance and a 35% increase in energy efficiency. The GPU part benefits from the new generation of Adreno GPU using a slicing architecture and a new 18MB dedicated cache, which improves graphics performance by 23% and reduces power consumption by 20%.
Top three flagship performance lists in January 2026
According to the average scores published by AnTuTu (not the highest score in a single session), the top three are:
Ranking Model Processor Average Running Score
| Ranking | model | processor | Average running score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red Magic 11 Pro+ | Snapdragon 8 Extreme Edition Gen5 | 4,104,271 |
| 2 | vivo X300 Pro satellite communication version | Dimensity 9500 | 4,090,624 |
| 3 | realme GT8 Pro | Snapdragon 8 Extreme Edition Gen5 | 4,075,525 |
It is worth noting that the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 also showed strong strength, with the vivo X300 Pro satellite communication version following closely behind with 4,090,624 points (Editor’s note, the X300 Pro satellite version may be due to the use of high-speed memory dual UFS 4.1 storage configuration, similar to the PC’s RAID 0 architecture, which increases the file transfer speed by up to 70%, so it is much higher than the X300 with the same processor).
Sub-flagship list: Dimensity 8500 won the championship at the first launch
In addition to the flagship list, AnTuTu also announced the sub-flagship (mid- to high-end) performance rankings. MediaTek’s newly released Dimensity 8500 Elite processor is powered by the Honor Power2, easily taking the top spot with 2,218,856 points. Dimensity 8500 uses TSMC N4P process. The CPU part is composed of 1 Cortex-A725 with a maximum frequency of 3.4GHz, 3 Cortex-A725s with a maximum frequency of 3.20GHz, and 4 Cortex-A725s with a maximum frequency of 2.20GHz. The GPU is Mali-G720, 1.5GHz. From an architectural point of view, Dimensity 8500 inherits the successful design of all A725 large cores of the previous generation product, and further increases the frequency.
Summary: Qualcomm and MediaTek compete for hegemony
Judging from the first list in 2026, Qualcomm once again proved to the market through the Snapdragon 8 Extreme Edition Gen5 that its position in the high-end Android market is still unshakable. The MediaTek Dimensity 9500 also showed strong competitiveness and achieved close first place among vivo flagship phones. As more models equipped with this chip, such as foldable phones, are launched, competition in the mobile device market in 2026 is bound to become even more intense.
Source: KOCPC Chinese