Our first Snapdragon 8 Elite telephone was too sizzling, does an replace sort things?

I just lately obtained my arms on the Realme GT7 Professional, the primary Snapdragon 8 Elite telephone I might put to the check. Sadly, the telephone was unable to finish GPU stress assessments. As an alternative, the GT7 Professional shut down the 3DMark benchmark app roughly halfway by means of as a result of critical heating points. I think this was a case of benchmark gaming gone flawed, as I efficiently ran these assessments utilizing a disguised model of the 3DMark app.

Realme confirmed the heating subject in a press release to Android Authority, saying it was a compatibility subject with 3DMark and {that a} software program replace was on the way in which to deal with it. We’ve simply acquired this tiny 2.9MB replace, so does it truly make a distinction?

A highly regarded telephone, however GPU stress assessments truly run now

The excellent news is that our most popular 3DMark GPU stress assessments (Wild Life, Wild Life Excessive, and Photo voltaic Bay) truly run to completion. What’s additionally notable is that each one three assessments present some stable stability of round 70 to 73%.

It’s fascinating to see the up to date telephone begin at a decrease rating than the out-of-the-box firmware, ostensibly giving the gadget extra thermal headroom. The up to date gadget grabs the lead simply earlier than the midway level and by no means seems again within the Excessive and Photo voltaic Bay assessments. Nevertheless, the up to date telephone was neck-and-neck with the gadget operating out-of-the-box firmware, dropping the previous few runs.

The unhealthy information is that this stability comes on the expense of severely excessive peak temperatures. That’s clearly not sufficient to close down the app, however you’re taking a look at a peak temperature of round 47 levels Celsius for every stress check. These temperatures are considerably increased than the Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely (42 to 43 levels Celsius) and OnePlus 12 (34.7 to 39.3 levels Celsius). Realme’s telephone was additionally uncomfortably sizzling after these assessments — you wouldn’t need to take a telephone name when it’s this sizzling.

This isn’t the toastiest telephone we’ve ever examined, because the Xiaomi 14 Extremely and ROG Cellphone 8 Professional in X-Mode beforehand delivered peak temperatures in extra of 52 levels. Nevertheless, that is nonetheless considerably increased than that of big-name rivals like Samsung, Google, and OnePlus. It’s additionally notable that Realme’s excessive temperatures happen whereas operating the assessments within the default balanced mode. Try the temperatures beneath.

What in regards to the performance-focused GT mode, then? The Wild Life Stress Check yielded similar stability, whereas the opposite two assessments confirmed extra instability than the balanced mode (with a notable 4.7% drop in Photo voltaic Bay). The telephone nonetheless felt uncomfortably sizzling, although, though peak temperatures have been nearly similar to these of the telephone operating in balanced mode. We do, nevertheless, see a one- to two-degree enhance in common temperatures. These increased temperatures are borne out within the graphs, which present the telephone operating hotter in GT mode from the get-go till the previous few assessments. Both approach, there doesn’t appear to be a giant distinction between these two modes.

It’s value stressing as soon as once more that this is only one Snapdragon 8 Elite telephone. We’ll want to check different handsets to see how different OEMs stability heating and sustained efficiency in these conditions. However between Realme’s newest telephone and Xiaomi’s previous-generation wares, it seems like extra manufacturers are snug operating their gadgets at very excessive peak temperatures by default in these assessments.

Actual-world efficiency appears to be a special affair to date, although, as I used to be in a position to easily play video games like Genshin Affect with minimal heating on the default settings (excessive, 30fps). This fluid efficiency prolonged to a few demanding GameCube titles as properly. This implies real-world video games ought to ship a greater expertise, however you’ll want to attend for our full overview for a extra complete verdict.

Nevertheless, the stress check outcomes counsel that AAA video games a few years from now may very well be a sizzling expertise on the GT7 Professional. It additionally makes us surprise about efficiency on highly regarded days, notably when utilizing GPS navigation or filming 8K video for prolonged intervals.

Final week, we famous that this gave the impression to be a case of benchmark “optimizations” gone flawed quite than a sizzling chip, however we added that we would have liked to check extra Snapdragon 8 Elite telephones to make certain. That’s nonetheless the case in the present day, but it surely’s clear that the GT7 Professional runs hotter than we’d like, even with this repair. It’s additionally value noting that Realme says the telephone has an enormous vapor chamber cooling system. So I think about that very like different high-end chips, telephones with much less cooling or a extra constrained type issue (e.g. flip foldables) might want to scale back efficiency much more to maintain warmth in test.

Qualcomm additionally defended its new chipset and pointed to Realme’s “software program compatibility subject” as a reason behind the heating drawback:

The Snapdragon 8 Elite isn’t the reason for the overheating subject skilled by the Realme GT7 Professional early gadget samples, seeded to pick press. Realme has recognized the trigger as a software program compatibility subject with 3D Mark and is actively engaged on a decision. Snapdragon Cell Platforms proceed to ship distinctive person experiences, and we’re excited for customers to benefit from the upcoming business gadgets powered by our expertise.

The GT7 Professional runs real-world video games very well to date and with little heating. However you would possibly need to preserve an eye fixed out for the Galaxy S25 collection, OnePlus 13, and different Snapdragon 8 Elite telephones if you wish to be assured of a much less toasty expertise down the road.