Qualcomm is developing PC gaming supported GPU drivers for Snapdragon 8 Elite

Qualcomm is working on official GPU drivers to make Windows-based PC games run more smoothly on Snapdragon-based smartphones. Despite the high performance capacity of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 processors introduced at the 2026 Snapdragon Summit, current mobile devices still encounter technical obstacles in running DirectX 12-based games.

New reports shared by Geekerwan reveal that the company is actively working on official driver support and direct DirectX 12 optimizations to more efficiently integrate PC games into the Android ecosystem.

New Processors Offer High Performance

Qualcomm sets a new standard in the mobile world with the Snapdragon 8 Elite series. Prime cores that can reach 5GHz and advanced Oryon CPU architecture bring mobile devices closer to a PC-like gaming experience. Adreno Matrix cores, especially in the Extreme version, push the limits of the hardware by undertaking critical tasks such as artificial intelligence-supported image processing and frame rendering.

This technological development can already be observed in existing games such as Diablo Immortal or War Thunder Mobile. However, the main goal for players is to experience popular PC games developed specifically for the Windows platform directly on Android phones.

Translation Layers Are Being Used for PC Games

Currently, Android users are trying to run Windows games thanks to third-party tools like Winlator or GameHub and community-developed Turnip drivers. Although these methods work via Wine-based translation layers, performance is often unstable and there are serious compatibility issues. The lack of DirectX 12 support is considered the biggest obstacle to the proper functioning of modern games on Android.

The Geekerwan team's tests on Qualcomm reference devices show what's possible once official driver support arrives. It is considered a great success for very demanding games such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth: Wukong, run in DirectX 12 mode, to reach a playable level of 30 FPS without any special optimization.

Native Support Expected to Come in the Future

Qualcomm management remains silent for now about these developments that create great excitement in the technology world. Although there was no direct announcement of DirectX 12 support in the sessions held during the summit, it is clear that the company has accelerated testing at the engineering level. If Qualcomm makes official drivers available, the Android ecosystem could become a much more powerful alternative to handheld game consoles.