Summer is nearly upon us, but the northeast’s record-setting heat wave this weekend might have you convinced it’s already here, calendar be damned. As we spend more time outdoors, it’s not just sunscreen you need to worry about; your smartphone can also get pretty toasty. So, when was the last time your phone overheated?
A lot of factors play into how a phone might overheat, like your climate, how you use it, and even your case. Taking lots of photos or recording video is more likely to warm things up than, say, reading emails, but hardware can also be a factor — some chipsets just run hot.
The overheating is getting quite annoying. And the fact that it blocks taking photos is frustrating in the moment. pic.twitter.com/L5eqU3hz7A
— Artem Russakovskii (@ArtemR) April 5, 2021
Artem complaining about his overheating OnePlus 9 Pro.
An overheating phone is not something I run into very often myself, but it has happened to me over the last year or two when using the camera a lot outside on a hot day. My girlfriend, who has been spending a lot of time in the backyard these last few warm days, has already run into issues in the last few days after leaving her phone in the sun.
There are also some indications that the latest Snapdragon 888 chipset powering so many 2021 flagship phones runs warmer than previous models, so this summer could see more reports of overheating phones, as in the case of the OnePlus 9 Pro already. Last year some of Samsung’s popular headphones were also overheating, but in the context of today’s poll, let’s stick to phones.
Feel free to chime in with any extra context you may have as well down in our comments section. I’m curious to know what those of you who run into the issue frequently might be doing to cause it more often than the rest of us.
