Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 810 processor has been marred by overheating issues which made a number of premium handsets uncomfortable to use during games or intensive tasks. Thankfully, this has been somewhat resolved in the latest version of Android but continues to add a negative aspect to many devices. Given the negative publicity of the chip’s heat output, you would expect Qualcomm to ensure their successor doesn’t contain the same flaws.
However, according to BusinessKorea, Samsung is supposedly trying to engineer a software patch to eliminate similar overheating problems on the 820 SoC. Additionally, if this isn’t possible, the company plans to integrate a “radiating pipe” to help with heat dissipation. In terms of its specification, the Snapdragon 820 features 40% faster graphics performance and consumes 40% less battery power than its predecessor.
The reports regarding overheating are a cause for concern as the SoC is planned to be integrated into various flagship phones. Clearly, Samsung feels the new chip hasn’t fixed the overheating problems and wants to engineer a solution as a matter of urgency. As a result, some manufacturers could opt for a different CPU to balance heat and performance.
This isn’t doing Qualcomm’s reputation any favors, but it’s still in a pre-production phase. This means the retail samples could have been fixed by the time of release.
