Qualcomm isn't too happy about the amount of negativity surrounding its latest flagship mobile chip, the Snapdragon 810. Speculation about problems was further fueled after the LG G4 was revealed to be using the Snapdragon 808 processor, despite earlier leaks and rumors suggesting that the Snapdragon 810 would be used.
However, Qualcomm is now sticking up for its chip, claiming that it does not have an overheating problem and that LG had made the decision to use the Snapdragon 808 was made “over a year ago”. The comments were made by Tim Mcdonough, the head of marketing at Qualcomm. Speaking with CNET he said: “The decisions on which chipsets to put on which handsets come from over a year ago”.
While LG did not go with the Snapdragon 810 for its G4 flagship, the G Flex 2 does make use of the chip, which has encountered no issues so far. HTC is also using the Snapdragon 810 inside of the HTC One M9. However, HTC's flagship has been known to get quite hot, a heat map image shows the device getting significantly hotter than some of last year's best phones.
Additionally, in a video made by YouTuber, Austin Evans, he comments that the One M9 gets warm to the touch during even light app use. However, the all metal build of the M9 would not help as far as thermals are concerned.
There are other companies planning to use the Snapdragon 810 in their devices this year so the issue might not be quite as bad as everyone thinks. That said, there is enough evidence to show that the 810 gets significantly hotter than previous chips, despite what Qualcomm says.
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KitGuru Says: The worry around the Snapdragon 810's potential heat issues is not unjustified but it might be a little overblown. Apparently Samsung might be on board to help out with next year's Snapdragon 820 so maybe we shall see some improvements in the future.