Qualcomm exec denies Snapdragon 8 Elite heating issues, just like every year

We recently saw a report out of Korea that Samsung was working with Qualcomm to address heating issues on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 processor. The report adds that if these issues aren’t addressed, then the Galaxy S27 Ultra could be exclusively powered by an Exynos chip instead. Qualcomm previously refuted this claim in a statement to Android Authority, and a company executive has now dismissed heating issues once again.

Qualcomm executive Don McGuire noted in a response on X that there are “no thermal issues with the 8 Elite Gen 6.” It’s unclear if the executive was referring to the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 or both the standard and Extreme chips. We’ve asked Qualcomm for clarity on this as well.

McGuire adds that Android OEMs are always tuning their platforms as they launch devices. This is absolutely true, as performance tuning is a key part of the smartphone development process, especially with a brand-new flagship chip. However, we’ve also seen a concerning trend in recent years. For the past couple of generations, we’ve noticed that the first phones with Snapdragon flagship processors tend to run extremely hot. The manufacturers behind these phones often release software updates to reduce temperatures.

We saw this trend occur with a few Snapdragon 8 Elite phones (e.g., realme GT7 Pro and HONOR Magic 7 Pro) and a couple of Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 devices (OnePlus 15, realme GT8 Pro). I can only speculate that some of these offending brands are hoping to win marketing points by trumpeting extremely high benchmark scores ahead of general availability.

Either way, it’s all well and good that Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 has no heating issue. Furthermore, the company has historically blamed OEMs for any heating problems that do occur in the first place. So I’d argue that Qualcomm needs to rein in some manufacturers or offer better tuning guidelines if the OEMs are indeed to blame for heating problems. And with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 series now reaching a crazy 5GHz, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the first phones initially run extremely hot.