Qualcomm Denies Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 Overheating Report as Samsung Weighs Exynos for the Galaxy S27 Ultra

Seoul Economic Daily reported that Samsung's tests found the chip slowing under sustained heavy loads. Qualcomm called the report inaccurate, and its marketing chief said there are no systemic thermal issues.

SAN DIEGO - Qualcomm has pushed back on a South Korean report that its newest flagship phone chip runs too hot for Samsung’s next top-end Galaxy. “Recent reporting about thermal issues related to Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 is inaccurate,” the company said in a statement that its Snapdragon account posted on X on Friday and that a spokesperson also gave to 9to5Google.

“We are proud of the innovation and strong momentum behind our next-generation flagship platform and continue to work closely with global OEMs to deliver premium user experiences,” the statement continued.

The report came from Seoul Economic Daily, where Koo Kyung-woo wrote that Samsung’s Mobile eXperience business is running final performance checks on the chip for the Galaxy S27 Ultra. Citing multiple people familiar with the matter, the paper said internal tests showed chip temperatures repeatedly exceeding threshold levels, with processing speeds falling during sustained heavy workloads. Samsung passed the results to Qualcomm last month and asked for improvements by mid-October, according to the report, and at the time of publication the chip had not reached the thermal stability Samsung requires.

donnymac on X replying to a post about the report — *Screenshot: Qualcomm CMO Don McGuire (@donnymac) on X replying to a post about the report*

Don McGuire, Qualcomm’s chief marketing officer, answered on X on Friday. “100% NOT accurate,” he wrote in reply to a post summarizing the Korean story. In a follow-up, he went further: “There are no systemic thermal issues with the 8 elite gen 6. OEMs are consistently tuning their platforms as they launch their products. Always trying to balance performance and power to optimize their value props around different use cases.”

*Screenshot: @donnymac on X saying there are no systemic thermal issues*

Wccftech and Gizmochina both pointed out that McGuire’s follow-up named the “8 elite gen 6” and left out the word Extreme, the higher-clocked part named in the Seoul report. Wccftech said it had asked him to clarify.

Don McGuire, Qualcomm’s chief marketing officer, at Snapdragon Summit 2026 Photo: Qualcomm

The stakes are Samsung’s chip choice for its most expensive phone. If the heat problem is not fixed, Seoul Economic Daily reported, Samsung would have little choice but to consider its own Exynos 2700, designed by its System LSI business and built on Samsung Foundry’s second-generation 2-nanometer SF2P process. That would be the first Exynos chip in an Ultra model since the Galaxy S22 Ultra in 2022, after which Samsung moved its Ultra phones to Qualcomm worldwide. The paper said Galaxy S27 mass production is scheduled for late this year, and an industry official told it that Qualcomm “has not been definitively ruled out.”

*Screenshot: @Snapdragon on X posting Qualcomm's statement on the report*

Money is part of the calculation. Samsung’s spending on mobile processors rose to 13.83 trillion won last year from 6.21 trillion won in 2021, the paper reported, and reached 7.44 trillion won in the first half of this year alone. An Exynos win would lift shipments for Samsung’s chip unit and utilization at its 2-nanometer lines.

Qualcomm unveiled the chip at its Snapdragon Summit in September. It has two CPU cores running at 5GHz, according to 9to5Google, and phones already confirmed to use it include the Motorola Signature 27, Xiaomi 18, Redmagic 12 Pro Plus, Honor Magic 9 Pro Max and the OnePlus 16, which Techtember covered at its China launch.

Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip Image: Qualcomm

Neither company has published test data, and the Seoul report described Samsung’s findings only through unnamed sources. Seoul Economic Daily said Samsung planned to review Qualcomm’s thermal fixes by the middle of this month before settling its processor choice.

*Video: Snapdragon, "The Future of Flagship Mobile Starts with Two"*

Sources: Seoul Economic Daily, Koo Kyung-woo, “Overheating in Qualcomm’s Next Chip Clouds Galaxy S27 Ultra Plans,” Oct. 16, 2026, https://en.sedaily.com/finance/2026/10/16/qualcomms-next-flagship-chip-hits-heat-snag-in-galaxy-s27; 9to5Google, Ben Schoon, “Qualcomm says rumors about Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 overheating are ‘inaccurate’,” Oct. 17, 2026, https://9to5google.com/2026/10/17/qualcomm-says-rumors-about-snapdragon-8-elite-extreme-gen-6-overheating-are-inaccurate/; Wccftech, Omar Sohail, Oct. 17, 2026, https://wccftech.com/qualcomm-marketing-head-snapdragon-8-elite-extreme-gen-6-overheating-claims-not-accurate/; Gizmochina, Oct. 17, 2026, https://www.gizmochina.com/2026/10/17/qualcomm-denies-snapdragon-8-elite-extreme-gen-6-overheating-allegations-on-galaxy-s27-ultra/; @Snapdragon on X, Oct. 16, 2026, https://x.com/Snapdragon/status/2111168341687910834; @donnymac on X, Oct. 16, 2026, https://x.com/donnymac/status/2111121928069263415 and https://x.com/donnymac/status/2111123349539856806; Snapdragon on YouTube, “The Future of Flagship Mobile Starts with Two,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIVpoUsWM8A.

Jordan Hale, AI. Jordan Hale is a senior correspondent covering artificial intelligence, chips, and lab strategy. Previously covered enterprise tech for national outlets; based in New York.