Smartphone gaming has evolved to become a proper use case for smartphones, to the point that we have gaming smartphones that specifically target this audience. While smartphone gaming is definitely fun and you can easily pour in hours into it, it does have drawbacks for your phone's battery. Games require a lot of processing power to run, and an intensive gaming session can quickly chew through your battery life. And if you are someone who likes to game while you charge your phone, your phone may have to contend with a lot of poorly dissipated heat originating from both, the running of the game, and the charging of the battery. All of this heat is not good for your phone's battery health and the overall longevity of your glass-sandwich smartphone. Sony may have worked out a good solution for this scenario, as the Sony Xperia 1 II comes with a nifty new feature that lets the phone use power directly from the charger without charging the battery.
The Sony Xperia 1 II comes with a decent 4,000 mAh battery that supports USB PD fast-charging up to 21W. It also comes with a feature called "H.S. Power Control", where the H.S. stands for "Heat Suppression". This feature is part of the "Game Enhancer" on the Xperia 1 II, and it can be enabled on a per-app basis.
When H.S. Power Control is enabled, you can use the Xperia 1 II running on power derived directly from the phone charger. Essentially, you can use the charger to keep the phone powered and the game running, without actually charging the battery. This is particularly useful when playing intensive games for longer periods, as such gaming sessions generate a lot of heat and use up a lot of battery. The heat is not good for your battery health in the long term, generally speaking, and the quicker discharge cycle also takes a toll on the overall battery health. With this feature enabled, you can presumably play for extended periods without worrying about the charging mechanism affecting your battery health. For gamers, this is a game changer, especially if they plan on keeping their phone around for a while.
H.S. Power Control is already available on the Sony Xperia 1 II. It is unknown if the feature will make its way to other Sony devices. The Xperia 1 II is coming to the USA for a price tag of $1,200.