In periods of high heat, it is legitimate to wonder if our smartphones would not give off a little too much heat. If the power of the SoC is often there for something, there is another element that can come into play: the technology of connection to the mobile network used. Researchers wanted to know if 5G could cause smartphones to overheat.
SmartViser, the French company to which we owe the ViSer autonomy analysis tool, was interested in the behavior of 5G compatible smartphones. Does the chipset heat up the phone more than a model equipped with 4G? And what happens when the smartphone detects that it is overheating?
SmartViser technicians have studied a whole range of recent smartphones, equipped with Qualcomm, Exynos and MediaTek processors. They tested them in a ventilated room at 16°, ensured good 5G coverage in the same place, and started streaming programs. They were thus able to determine 3 groups of smartphones with totally different results and behaviors.
Read also: how to prevent your smartphone from overheating during the heat wave
Some 5G smartphones overheat and can’t stop
According to the technicians behind the test, there are therefore 3 types of 5G smartphones:
- in the first case, the device does not overheat and the tests were able to be carried out to completion;
- in the second case, the temperature of the smartphone can reach 48° after 20 minutes use of 5G. The device fixes itself at this temperature and never drops again throughout the test phase;
- finally, in the last case, and this is probably the most interesting, it appears that some models are capable of automatically switch from 5G to 4G. This is to reduce the internal temperature of the device. This type of phone can exceed 45°, but after about 25 minutes, the device runs all applications in the background on the 4G network. Admittedly, the flow rate is then slower, but the device reduces its temperature almost immediately.
Screenshot credit: SmartViser.
In order not to offend anyone, SmartViser unfortunately does not give the models of smartphones tested. This concern about the risks of overheating of 5G smartphones is not new: we were already talking to you in 2018 on the occasion of an article published in Digitimes. At the time, there was talk of new methods of heat dissipation. It is interesting to see that, since then, certain manufacturers seem to have really looked into the question, while others have evaded it. SmartViser also explains that manufacturers do not always have time to thoroughly test their smartphones because of the launches that follow one another.
Source : SmartAim
