Writing about chipsets can be a bit like watching paint dry. These tiny mobile brains get more powerful every year, but 99% of smartphone users don’t get anywhere close to using their full potential. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, for instance, came out in 2023, but most people would be hard-pressed to notice a performance difference between that chipset and Qualcomm’s latest, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which powers most of today’s best Android phones.It’s a classic case of diminishing returns — semiconductor manufacturers can keep raising the chipset performance ceiling, but if phones can’t make use of all...