Does Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 have heating issues?

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 flagship chipset was released just a few weeks ago. The chipset outperforms the standard Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. It is built on Samsung’s 4nm node rather than the 5nm used in the Snapdragon 888. The company claims a 20% reduction in power consumption and thermal throttling.

The Motorola Edge X30 is the first smartphone in China to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. According to Motorola, the Edge X30 has an aluminium alloy frame, which allows the device to have excellent thermal conductivity, which helps keep the phone cool.

Ice Universe, a well-known leaker, claims that “On moto phones, the extreme test of Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is very hot. Please mentally prepare yourself; 2022 could be a HOOOT year for Android phones”. This implies that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 may have heating issues, either directly or indirectly.

What do we think of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 heating issue?

The Motorola Edge X30 was released just a few days after the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset was officially unveiled. The brands launched their smartphones faster than usual to demonstrate that they were the first in the world, and Motorola did the same with their Edge X30. It was released so early simply to be the world’s first smartphone to be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. And while optimising the device in a short period of time is possible, it is not easy. As a result, we believe it is a software or optimization issue rather than a hardware issue with the chipset itself.

We should wait for other OEMs to release smartphones with the same chipset to see if the overheating issue is present in their devices. If the problem exists, it could be a chipset issue, but if it does not, it is an issue on the OEM’s end. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset is built on a 4nm fabrication process and the ARM V9 architecture, so it should be more power-efficient. Furthermore, we can’t tell whether the problem is caused by the brand or by the chipset itself. When more devices with the same chipset become available, we will be able to tell more clearly.