Apple iPhone 17 series finally gets high-end cooling
Controlling the temperature inside your smartphone is an important task. Too much heat can throttle the processor, causing slowdowns and performance degradation, and can cause the device to freeze. The heat can also damage the battery and reduce the component’s lifespan. The problem with heat starts with the chips, and according to a new report, Apple will copy some of its competitors in the smartphone industry and finally include a vapor chamber in its new models. This will happen in both the Pro models and the regular Apple iPhone 17 and a potential iPhone 17 Air.
Currently, iPhones use a heat sink made of metals with high thermal conductivity to move heat away from the processor. A vapor chamber uses a liquid sealed in a container that, when heated, turns into vapor that flows through the container and disperses the heat. When the vapor condenses, it returns to its cooler, liquid form.
Using the vapor chamber is better than the heat sink because it can direct heat further away from the processor to areas inside the Apple iPhone 17 where heat is not an issue. Vapor chambers also take up little space and do not require fans or other cooling components. The cooling system also helps dissipate heat generated when charging the battery.
You can see how warm newer iPhones get when you put the devices through complex tasks like video editing or recording longer 4K videos. In addition, the Apple iPhone 17 series has to handle the new Apple Intelligence features, which may also have played a role in the decision to include a vapor chamber. Especially since all new iPhones will get Apple Intelligence features, both the Pro and non-Pro models.
Last August, the usually reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max will get a vapor chamber, which makes sense given the size of the phone. Whatever Apple is up to to dissipate internal heat is sure to be tested as Apple increases the clock speed of the CPU cores used in its A-series application processors. The A18 Pro chipset that powers the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, for example, runs at up to 4.04GHz.
