(Image credit: Future / Mike Lowe)

I've been testing the best Android phones for many, many years now. As excited as I get for the next flagship Samsung Galaxy Ultra or Google Pixel Pro XL models, it's always a treat to catch a glimpse of something well ahead of the curve.

Which is exactly what you're looking at: this reference Android handset, finished in a fetching purple (the likes of which I can't recall seeing on another handset perhaps ever – unless it was a Motorola Pantone release), won't ever actually go on sale.

That's because it's Qualcomm's reference device to demonstrate its just-announced Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 flagship chipset, which promises to deliver the "the fastest mobile CPU in the world" via its latest Oryon solution. Which, I suppose, is a bit of a dig at Apple's latest iPhone 17 reveal.

The Gen 5 promises up to a 20% boost over the previous-gen platform – which you'll find in many of the best phones of 2025 already (Apple and Google omitted, of course) – and this purple wondermachine was able to show that off spectacularly.

(Image credit: Future / Mike Lowe)

The purpose of Qualcomm's reference phone is to verify benchmarks, which I tested at Snapdragon Summit 2025 by running various tests. In multi-thread tests, it achieved 12,220 – far beyond Geekbench 6's current top scorer, the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

But this handset's spec sheet reads quite incredibly, too, with 24GB RAM, a 6.8-inch 3200x1440 resolution display, and 1TB storage. Indeed, I think this is the most powerful phone I've ever seen – and I've seen many.

Sure, benchmarking is only one variable, which doesn't reflect real-world scenarios. And having run AnTuTu and more for graphics verification, this reference Snapdragon device sure does run hot. Consider that, then, for real-world devices – beginning with the Xiaomi 17.

Interestingly, there's already a rumoured Geekbench score for the yet-to-be-verified Xiaomi 17 Pro, scoring 11,525 (links to a GameGPU X post). If that's true, it qualifies for Qualcomm's claims of a 20% boost in Gen 5 over its predecessor – which is quite the leap.

So while Qualcomm's reference device isn't real – in the sense that it'll never go on sale to the public – it does go some way to giving us a glimpse of the future. And it looks as though 2026's Android phones are going to be the most powerful yet.