I used the first Snapdragon 8 Elite phone, and it’s hot stuff

When nan courier handed complete nan container containing nan Realme GT 7 Pro, I was keen to unfastened it up. Not because it was a caller telephone (they travel rather often), but because it was 1 of nan very first phones pinch nan latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor wrong — and nan first telephone I’d usage pinch nan chip.

Qualcomm has hyped nan Snapdragon 8 Elite up arsenic a sizeable betterment complete its erstwhile chips, truthful I sewage to activity testing it out. I tin confirm, it’s basking worldly successful each consciousness of nan phrase.

First, nan benchmark tests

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Everything began rather normally, but small did I cognize what was to come. I’ve been utilizing nan Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra for nan past fewer weeks, which has nan Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 wrong it, making it nan cleanable comparison device.

With some phones successful hand, I installed nan Geekbench 6 and 3DMark benchmarking apps. While benchmark scores aren’t ever typical of wide capacity and really a telephone feels — and phones tin besides beryllium adapted by manufacturers to supply precocious scores — they are a elemental measurement to exemplify capacity differences. How did the 2 processors compare?

The Realme GT 7 Pro pinch nan Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite obliterated nan Galaxy S24 Ultra and its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, pinch a CPU multi-core people of 9425 compared to 7104. Running nan GPU test, it was a akin pummeling, pinch nan Snapdragon 8 Elite’s 19065 people overmuch higher than nan Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s people of 15898. There’s nary mobility astir it — nan Snapdragon 8 Elite is simply a powerhouse.

I moved connected to nan 3DMark tests, which ore connected gaming and graphics performance, but tin besides springiness immoderate penetration into efficiency. As you astir apt expect, nan Snapdragon 8 Elite’s people was acold higher than nan Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s people successful nan modular Solar Bay test, but erstwhile I went connected to nan extended 20-minute Solar Bay Stress Test, things took an unexpected turn.

Hardcore gaming tests

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I ran nan first bid of benchmarking tests back-to-back, and 3 quarters done nan Solar Bay Stress Test, nan Realme GT 7 Pro unopen nan app down, stating nan telephone had go excessively hot, and definite functions were unavailable. Sure enough, it was roasting erstwhile I picked it up, beforehand and back. The Galaxy S24 Ultra completed nan Solar Bay Stress Test without a problem, contempt moving it instantly aft nan Geekbench 6 tests and nan Solar Bay test, arsenic did nan iPhone 16 Pro Max.

I can’t retrieve nan past clip I tested a telephone that overheated during a short bid of benchmarking tests, truthful this was a surprise. Realme claims nan GT 7 Pro has an “Iceberg VC” vapor cooling system, which astatine 11,480mm squared is apparently nan largest successful its class, truthful it’s not for illustration it hasn’t compensated for nan accrued performance. I fto nan telephone cool down and ran nan trial again.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Once again, nan telephone overheated aft astir 14 minutes, nan benchmark trial failed, and nan telephone restricted functionality for a fewer moments. I picked nan telephone up respective times during nan trial and recovered that moreover 10 minutes in, I would person considered nan Realme GT 7 Pro excessively basking to comfortably hold. Instead of trying nan trial again, I waited until nan telephone cooled down and played Asphalt Legends Unite.

After playing for 30 minutes, location was only a hint of accrued heat, and I’d had nan surface astatine afloat brightness pinch nan telephone successful its high-performance gaming mode. The crippled ran faultlessly and was incredibly soft and breathtaking to play, though it didn’t really consciousness that different from immoderate different flagship telephone I’ve utilized this year. It’s not nan astir demanding game, though, and nan 3DMark accent tests much intimately replicate agelong sessions connected power-intensive games for illustration Genshin Impact.

High-speed connection

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How astir a different unscientific velocity and capacity trial of nan Snapdragon 8 Elite? The Realme GT 7 Pro uses nan Qualcomm FastConnect 7900 Wi-Fi modem, compared to nan FastConnect 7800 paired pinch nan Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and recovered wrong nan Galaxy S24 Ultra. The on-paper specs look to beryllium identical, but they don’t show nan full story.

I downloaded Asphalt Legends Unite from nan Play Store connected some nan S24 Ultra and nan GT 7 Pro, some complete nan aforesaid Wi-Fi network, and timed nan process. It’s a monolithic 3.27GB file, and it took 3 minutes and 40 seconds connected nan Realme GT 7 Pro. It was installed and fresh to play conscionable a fewer seconds later.

What’s absorbing is nan Galaxy S24 Ultra was hardly 60% into nan download process by this point, and it went connected to return six minutes and 30 seconds successful total. To make judge it wasn’t a one-off fluke, I tried a fewer much app downloads and sewage nan aforesaid results. For example, nan 102MB Crossy Road crippled took conscionable 6 seconds to download and instal connected nan GT 7 Pro and 20 seconds connected nan S24 Ultra.

Both phones support Wi-Fi 7, but my router does not, truthful they utilized a 5GHz connection. I ran an Ookla Speed Test to amended understand nan differences and, judge enough, nan Realme GT 7 Pro achieved acold higher download and upload speeds. In my elemental test, nan Snapdragon 8 Elite and FastConnect 7900 Wi-Fi modem successful nan Realme GT 7 Pro download apps overmuch faster than nan past type of nan spot and modem. More importantly, contempt downloading aggregate apps successful a statement and moving respective velocity tests, location was nary evident summation successful instrumentality heat.

What astir nan Realme GT 7 Pro itself?

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

I can’t show you overmuch astir nan Realme GT 7 Pro arsenic a telephone conscionable yet, but I tin remark connected nan creation and nan measurement it feels successful my hand. It’s a important device, weighing astir 223 grams and measuring 8.55mm thick. The level metallic sides make it consciousness rather chunky successful your hand. The oversized camera module connected nan back, pinch its angles and crisp edges, only adds to nan chunky look and feel.

The Realme GT 7 Pro successful our photos is successful its Mars Orange color, which has an different soil dune-like effect that’s visible successful definite lighting conditions. It’s very beautiful and really eye-catching, reminding maine of Huawei’s beautiful Amber Sunrise colour connected nan P30 Pro. If it’s excessively agleam for you, there’s besides a Galaxy Green type that’s much muted.

Too basking to handle?

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

I’m utilizing nan Realme GT 7 Pro up of nan last release, and I’m only capable to measure and show you astir nan capacity of nan Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite astatine this time. It’s besides nan first telephone pinch nan spot I’ve used, truthful I person thing to comparison it to too older versions, meaning I can’t opportunity whether nan overheating issues I knowledgeable are nan responsibility of nan processor, nan phone, nan software, nan benchmarking app, aliases inefficiencies successful nan caller cooling system.

Although I haven’t utilized nan telephone arsenic my superior instrumentality yet, it has not overheated astatine immoderate different clip aliases shown thing but stellar performance. However, arsenic I’m penning these words, nan Realme GT 7 Pro has overheated again during a 3DMark accent test, this clip pinch nan GT capacity boost progressive to spot if it helped out, and I won’t beryllium trying again astatine this stage.

Reaching a conclusion is impossible, but I’m looking guardant to trying different telephone pinch nan Snapdragon 8 Elite processor to spot if it really is simply a fiery small beast — aliases if nan Realme GT 7 Pro conscionable isn’t rather fresh for nan spiciest mobile spot we’ve ever seen.