A method for an electronic receiver of processing a packet of a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) system is disclosed. The method comprises receiving a first transmission of the packet, wherein the first transmission comprises a first plurality of soft symbol values and determining whether the first plurality of soft symbol values meets a stop criterion. If it is determined that the first plurality of soft symbol values does not meet the stop criterion, a subject of the first plurality of soft symbol values is determined, wherein the subset comprises a number of soft symbol values of the first plurality of soft symbol values, the number being greater than zero and less than the first plurality. The subset of the first plurality of soft symbol values is stored in a HARQ buffer. A second plurality of soft symbol values, comprised in a second transmission of the packet received by the electronic receiver, is combined with the stored subset of the first plurality of soft symbol values to produce a third plurality of combined soft symbol values. Corresponding arrangement, receiver, device, and computer program product are also disclosed.