I have a Samsung Galaxy A12 and when I play for more than 20 minutes it gets really hot, I can barely touch it. I've lowered the graphics quality but it's still the same. Is that normal or am I damaging the battery?
Brightness helps but it's not the only factor here. The Galaxy A12 has a pretty mid processor and Genshin Impact is pretty demanding, so that heat is relatively normal for that phone playing for 20+ minutes, but there's something most people overlook: background processes. Check if you have apps running simultaneously (social media, browser, anything that does sync) because that adds to CPU usage and the temperature goes up more. Aside from brightness, close everything else before playing and keep basic ventilation on your phone, don't have it on a pillow or anything. The battery itself doesn't get damaged just from occasional heat, but if it stays above 40°C constantly after a few months it will degrade, so if you keep noticing a lot of heat it's a sign that phone is at its limit with that game.
The first thing I'd do is turn the screen brightness down quite a bit - that's the number one culprit for heat in heavy games. The Galaxy A12 has a mid-range processor and poor ventilation, so Genshin Impact pushes it to the max; the battery gets stressed from the sustained heat but won't get damaged overnight if you keep an eye on it. What you should definitely do is let the phone cool down every 20-30 minutes if you're going to keep playing, and check in settings if there are apps running in the background eating up resources. If it's still just as hot after lowering the brightness, it's probably just the limit of that device for this game - nothing abnormal, but don't push it too hard.
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