According to various sources in the industry supply chain and Chinese social media, as the performance limit of flagship mobile chips continues to rise and traditional mobile phone cooling solutions become increasingly tight, Qualcomm is considering using Samsung’s Heat Pass Block (HPB) technology in the next-generation Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 series to alleviate the thermal pressure caused by high-frequency operation.
This HPB technology was first applied to Samsung’s 2nm process Exynos 2600 chip, and officials claim that it can reduce thermal resistance by about 16%. The core approach is to directly cover the processor die with a copper thermal conductive layer to provide a path for heat to quickly evacuate from the source of the chip and reduce the inefficient process of heat diffusing to surrounding components and then being passively exported. At the same time, the memory modules that are traditionally stacked on top of the SoC are moved to the side of the chip, and the seemingly simple layout adjustment is combined with the high thermal conductivity of copper to reduce the formation of local hot spots.
Qualcomm’s previous generation flagship chip, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, has demonstrated the price of this “extreme performance for high power consumption” route. The chip slightly outperforms Apple's A19 Pro in Geekbench 6 multi-core scores, but at the cost of consuming approximately 61% more power, highlighting Qualcomm's push to push heat dissipation and power consumption to the limit in its fight for the lead in running scores. In this context, a more efficient source cooling solution is regarded as a prerequisite for the next performance jump.
According to reports from Weibo, the highest frequency of the performance core of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro version tested internally by Qualcomm is approaching 5GHz. In an open experimental environment, such a frequency can be maintained, but once it is packaged into a smartphone body with limited space, the rapid accumulation of heat will become a major bottleneck. Although the next generation of chips is expected to shift to TSMC's 2nm process and improve energy efficiency, the energy efficiency advantages brought by the process will soon be offset as the frequency continues to be increased in pursuit of extreme performance.
This has also prompted the industry to regard "direct source cooling" like HPB as a necessary upgrade at the structural level rather than a niche experimental technology. Reports indicate that Qualcomm is evaluating HPB as one of several potential cooling solutions to stabilize chip temperatures under peak load scenarios. For a long time, mobile phone heat dissipation has mainly relied on solutions such as vapor chambers and graphite heat sinks. However, as the power density of SoC continues to increase, the marginal benefits of these traditional methods are weakening.
If Qualcomm finally integrates HPB in the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 series, it will mean that it has made a clear shift to "die-level thermal management" ideas at the chip architecture level for the first time. This will also be seen as Qualcomm’s admission that the existing heat dissipation strategy, even after years of polishing, is approaching its limit under the current smartphone form and power consumption level, and requires deeper adjustments in packaging and structural design.
At present, Qualcomm has not officially confirmed the relevant news. However, several Weibo whistleblowers had previously been the first to accurately disclose details related to the Exynos 2600. This round of news about Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and HPB cooling is highly consistent in timeline and content, making the outside world believe that its credibility is not low. At a critical juncture when flagship mobile phone processors move towards the 5GHz frequency band, whether Qualcomm will choose to "join forces" with Samsung on heat dissipation technology will become a major focus of the next high-end mobile chip competition.