The drama surrounding Qualcomm’s upcoming monster of a processor, the Snapdragon 810, has been almost as monstrous as the performance of the chip itself. Back in early December we heard the first rumblings of possible problems with the chip, citing that the sheer complexity and performance of the chip was causing it to overheat and that the implications of delays in the wireless industry were becoming a real possibility. Since then we’ve seen plenty of news on the topic, including the fact that a major manufacturer has dropped Qualcomm as a customer for 2015, likely because of the rumored issues with the Snapdragon 810. All of this doesn’t bode so well for Qualcomm, but what about phones scheduled to launch in just a few days like the LG G Flex 2, which is powered by the very same chipset in question here?
ZDNet Korea reached out to LG to get a little bit more information on everything going on, specifically wondering about these problems with the Snapdragon 810 and the upcoming LG G Flex 2 and the G4. LG’s response was that there were definitely some problems with overheating in the initial batch sent to them for testing but that these problems have since been worked out. Whether or not that means that Qualcomm has fixed the actual thermal envelope issues with the chip or if LG was just able to design a good heat dissipation system to counter the heat issues isn’t clear here, but it’s likely a combination of optimization on both party’s parts.
What’s more is that this confirms the Snapdragon 810’s existence inside of the upcoming G4, the follow-up to LG’s super successful high-spec product line. It also confirms allegations of overheating problems with the Snapdragon 810 itself, something that hasn’t officially been recognized until now. While this isn’t necessarily a problem for the mobile world it likely represents more intense R&D for the upcoming devices that are planning on using the chip. Again this could either be in the form of better heat dissipation systems in the devices that use the chip, or as rumor would have it Qualcomm redesigning the chip so that it doesn’t run as hot. The G Flex 2 will be out soon in South Korea and likely in the coming months throughout the world, while the G4 isn’t expected to release until well into Spring or so this year, with an announcement for the device likely sometime in March.