Galaxy S25’s Snapdragon chip may have potential heating issue

It is almost confirmed that at least one Galaxy S25 series phone will use the recently announced Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. The next-generation flagship processor from Qualcomm has amazing CPU and GPU performance. However, it may also have a potential heating issue.

At least one Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered phone has shown heating issue

Multiple phones with Snapdragon 8 Elite chip have already been announced. And one of the first phones to use that chip and to reach reviewers’ hands is the Realme GT7 Pro. The folks over at Android Authority and Digital Trends, who were testing the Realme GT7 Pro, both noted that the phone was running rather warm.

In both cases, the phone reportedly crashed while running GPU benchmarks. Android Authority noted that the phone was uncomfortably hot during the 3DMark stress test.

The phone reportedly showed heat-related warnings on the screen. And it didn’t end there. Apparently, the phone didn’t allow the tester to use anything else other than making calls.

Even after switching from the ‘Balanced’ performance profile to the ‘Power Saving Mode’ and running 3DMark, the Realme GT7 Pro could not complete the GPU testing benchmark. Data collected during this test reportedly showed that the phone’s temperature reached 46 degrees Celsius.

The story continues after the video…

After disguising 3DMark as a different app and running the benchmark, it was revealed that the phone suffered steep performance drops after a few minutes. However, its sustained performance was still higher than that of the Galaxy S24 Ultra and its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 For Galaxy chip.

Other than that benchmark, the Realme GT7 Pro reportedly performed normally during heavy gameplay and other tasks. Its temperatures were also only slightly higher than what is seen on high-end phones. So, it isn’t clear if it is just the benchmark or the chip has a particular problem with graphics benchmarks.

Still, it shows that while—and because it is—powerful, the Snapdragon 8 Elite may be running slightly warmer compared to previous-generation flagship Snapdragon chips.

Samsung's recent phones, both flagship and mid-range, have featured big vapor chamber systems for impressive cooling, and it seems an even bigger one will be required on the Galaxy S25 series to avoid any overheating problems.