HTC One M9: is it hot or not?

Back when the Samsung Galaxy S6 rumour mill was in full churn, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 — the company’s flagship chip for the first half of this year — was said to be extremely powerful but rather heat happy as a result. The chip is used in the HTC One M9, and according to new benchmarks radiating from the Dutch site Tweakers, its doing rather well in that phone.

How well? Well done. About 15-20 degrees Celsius hotter than its rivals, including the iPhone 6 Plus, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4, the LG G3 and its own older brother, the HTC One M8.

Read more: iPhone 6S, HTC One M9 and Xperia Z4: 7 phone launches to get excited about in 2015

The GFXBench benchmark was used, which primarily stress tests the graphical performance of the chips, using DirectX 12, Metal and Vulcan.

There’s a stark difference between the Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 powered Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (the coolest of the five), to the 810 powered HTC One M9, at least according to the figures.

It should be noted though that the M9 isn’t exactly roaming the wilderness yet, so benchmarks should be taken with more than just a pinch of salt until an official unit can be stressed, but for those who pre-ordered one of HTC’s latest flagships, the graphic below should be a source of worry.

Image: Tweakers

Additionally, HTC online communications manager Jeff Gordon stressed that the HTC One M9’s software “isn’t final yet” so benchmarks are not in any way valid.

PSA: One more time, all together now: HTC One M9 software isn’t final yet, no matter how many pre-release benchmarks you run.

— Jeff Gordon (@urbanstrata) March 16, 2015

@electronicpunk Anyone who’s publishing benchmarks right now is doing so illicitly.

— Jeff Gordon (@urbanstrata) March 16, 2015

Nevertheless, it now seems like a good move by Samsung to shove its own chips into the Galaxy S6 line, doesn’t it?