It is uncommon I discover myself getting excited a couple of new chipset, however that is precisely the area I discovered myself in throughout Snapdragon Summit final month. Qualcomm’s annual occasion all the time has one thing fascinating — a never-before-seen demo or a technical presentation that results in an fascinating dialog, on the very least — however this 12 months, it actually was the sheer energy of the corporate’s new chip that left me feeling excited. The Snapdragon 8 Elite, on paper, looks as if the kind of leap in processing energy that would result in a reinvigorated cellular sector, proper as even foldables are beginning to really feel just a little stale.
I am unsure the iQOO 13 is the machine I pictured when my thoughts began racing concerning the prospects surrounding the Snapdragon 8 Elite. With a 6.82-inch show, a flat metallic body, and a triple-lens array of 50MP sensors, that is about as stereotypical a smartphone as you could find in the marketplace proper now. And but, it offers an early glimpse on the subsequent 12 months. Though you possibly can’t purchase one for your self in North America, I’ve taken the iQOO 13 for a spin as my first Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered telephone, a preview of what units just like the OnePlus 13 and Galaxy S25 Extremely will ship on in simply a few brief months. And I’ve to say, I am fairly excited.
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The iQOO 13 is an enchanting response to Realme’s GT 7 Professional
And a promising have a look at the way forward for smartphones
Within the lead as much as my time with the iQOO 13, I’ve watched as these at different publications went hands-on with the same machine, Realme’s GT 7 Professional. Truthfully, the phrase of mouth on that specific telephone hasn’t been nice. Android Authority discovered it unattainable to complete GPU stress assessments out of the field, with 3DMark closing midway by means of its course of. Whereas a compatibility replace fastened this crashing subject, the parents at Android Authority confirmed that the machine stayed fairly scorching all through your complete check, peaking at 47 levels Celsius (or round 117 levels Fahrenheit, for my fellow People).
They weren’t alone. Earlier this month, Twitter consumer Ben Gaskin tweeted a sequence of images exhibiting purple marks on his arms, all due to an overheating GT 7 Professional. A number of of the video games he examined skilled some critical thermal throttling after 10 minutes or much less, with the machine rising too scorching to carry alongside the higher again and prime of the body. I noticed this thread proper earlier than my iQOO 13 unit was scheduled to reach at my doorstep, and to say I used to be involved can be an understatement. Had I simply overhyped a chipset that would probably burn the arms of these making an attempt to play Genshin Impression on the go?
Nicely, no. I say all this to not throw Realme beneath the bus, however to explain the very totally different scenario I am seeing on the iQOO 13. I performed about quarter-hour of MadOut 2 on my assessment unit, a GTA-like and one of many video games known as out by Gaskin for overheating his Realme mannequin. With settings cranked up throughout the board, my machine held on at a near-steady 60FPS almost your complete time, solely dipping all the way down to 45FPS just a few occasions close to the tip of my session.
The telephone was definitely heat — round 100 levels Fahrenheit, in keeping with my Pixel 9 Professional’s temperature sensor — however not heat sufficient to go away a mark behind on my hand. Likewise, it wasn’t too heat to carry, though the wintery circumstances in Buffalo definitely helped there. Lowering the sport’s decision again to round 60 % introduced that temperature down as nicely.
On video games from extra established builders, like Disney’s Speedstorm and Zenless Zone Zero, I noticed even higher thermal efficiency throughout the board. Working by means of the early levels of Speedstorm and taking part in about half-hour of Zenless Zone Zero back-to-back left the machine feeling toasty, however as soon as once more, not uncomfortable to carry. And once more, counting on my Pixel 9 Professional as a measuring software, the iQOO 13’s again was round 97 levels Fahrenheit at its hottest factors.
Exterior of those environments — and the same old benchmarking instruments, like 3DMark and Geekbench — I did not really feel the iQOO 13 get heat as soon as throughout my week with the telephone. Frankly, that is to be anticipated from Chinese language OEMs lately, as background administration tends to be fairly aggressive at killing something that would danger drawing energy. Nonetheless, it is a good signal as we transfer in direction of an entire slate of 2025 flagships, with most of them more likely to be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite.
Oh, and as for these benchmarks, 3DMark’s Wild Life Stress Check did make issues really feel fairly scorching by its twentieth loop, however managed a reasonably steady rating of 15,000 up till the ultimate three minutes, when it dipped down into the 12,000 vary. By way of temperatures, the telephone peaked at 42 levels Celsius, or round 108 levels Fahrenheit.
The iQOO 13 may not be your subsequent telephone, nevertheless it’s not all too totally different
We’re weeks away from new units from Samsung and OnePlus
This is not a full assessment of the iQOO 13, in fact. You may’t (and doubtless should not) purchase this telephone within the US. I’ve run right into a handful of compatibility points with my machine (it may well’t run Balatro, so scratch it off my listing of potential devoted Balatro handhelds), and FunTouch OS is, frankly, not notably Enjoyable to Contact. I am additionally not an enormous fan of the general design, which has seen little or no change in comparison with final 12 months’s iQOO 12. It is a huge, white brick of a telephone that feels just a little low cost within the arms, particularly in comparison with my day by day driver Pixel 9 Professional.
Nonetheless, in case you’re seeking to improve your telephone in 2025, the iQOO 13 paints a reasonably image of what to anticipate from the Snapdragon 8 Elite. If firms like Samsung and OnePlus can nail their respective cooling methods — and each firms have accomplished a reasonably good job previously — this might be the leap in cellular efficiency energy customers have been searching for. And whereas we’re nonetheless on the behest of sport builders to carry the types of titles that will preserve the Play Retailer in a more healthy state, the truth that this headroom exists in any respect is the proper place to begin.