Snapdragon 8 Elite heats up quite a bit during intense GPU use

According to leaks, the new Snapdragon 8 Elite chip will power the entire Galaxy S25 series. It seems that Samsung couldn’t fix the low yield rates of its 3nm wafers in time, so it had to scrap the Exynos 2500 chip. This is great news for fans of the lineup, as the new Qualcomm SoC sees major improvements in power. That said, it seems that the Galaxy S25 series chip presents a potential heating issue during graphical stress benchmarks.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite shows a potential heating issue during GPU tests

The leaked benchmarks of the Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered devices have shown impressive results. The new Oryon custom cores inherited from the Snapdragon X chips are the main highlight. However, it seems that one particular situation causes special stress on the SoC.

Android Authority and Digital Trends ran GPU-focused benchmarks on the Realme GT7 Pro, an upcoming Android flagship phone. The device boasts of using Qualcomm’s most powerful chip. During GPU benchmarks, sources claimed that the phone got noticeably hot. The heating levels even triggered warnings about the temperature of the device. At that point, the Realme flagship disabled all functions except for calls for a few minutes.

The high temperatures during the GPU benchmark even prevented the Realme GT7 Pro from completing the 3DMark stress test. This test pushes the capabilities of the device’s GPU to the max, so it’s normal for the temperature to rise. However, it’s not so normal for the app to crash before returning results. Regarding temperatures, the Realme GT7 Pro reached 46°C at its highest point.

The chip performs well outside of GPU benchmarks, even in heavy gaming

It’s quite possible that the problems described above are more related to the stress tests than to an actual heating problem on the chip. According to the same sources who ran the stress tests, the Realme GT7 Pro performed much better in every other situation. The device ran normally even during heavy gameplay, with no crashes or high temperature notifications.

The Xiaomi 15 Pro, another Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered device, was also put through heavy gaming tests under demanding conditions. The device ran titles like Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, and Honor of Kings at maximum graphical settings. The result was high performance with controlled temperatures in all cases. So, it doesn’t seem like Qualcomm’s latest SoC has a problem handling demanding tasks. If anything, it might not perform at its best in the 3DMark stress tests.

Basically, if you’re worried about a potential heating issue with the Galaxy S25 lineup’s Snapdragon chip, you can rest easy.