Credit: Nick Fernandez / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Leaker Digital Chat Station says that adding a cooling fan to last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 gives better gaming/sustained performance than just the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 SoC.
- Adding a cooling fan to the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 SoC gives significantly better performance.
- Another Android brand is exploring adding a cooling fan to its Pro Max flagship, though it’s not immediately clear which brand this is.
Smartphone SoCs have grown more powerful every year, to the point where it’s practically necessary to equip any phone with a flagship SoC with vapor chamber cooling. Without vapor-chamber cooling, flagship SoCs will throttle quickly after their peak, yielding performance that looks good only on paper. It seems even vapor-chamber cooling might not be enough these days, as more OEMs are reportedly experimenting with adding active cooling fans to help the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 SoC sustain its performance for longer.
Leaker Digital Chat Station recently mentioned on Weibo that performance gains from a cooling fan outweigh those from a chip generation upgrade, especially in scenarios like gaming.