Broadband near-infrared (NIR) light sources based on phosphor-converted light-emitting diodes (pc-LEDs) are desirable for various photonics applications, while developing thermally stable NIR phosphors remains a great challenge. Increasing the temperature accelerates the severe nonradiative relaxation process gorverned by the intrinsic energy gap law, which further suspends the efficient low-energy emission of Cr<sup>3+</sup> emitters in the inorganic lattice. To address this rule, several state-of-the-art strategies have been put forward in this perspective to modulate the critical law from the viewpoints of (1) crystal structure design, (2) defect engineering, (3) strengthened rigidity, and (4) energy transfer. This perspective suggests avenues for exploring novel broadband NIR phosphors with high thermal stability and will also stimulate further studies on NIR spectroscopy for high-power applications.