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Apple Says iPhone 15 Pro's Titanium Frame Does Not Contribute to Overheating Issue

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Apple today said it plans to release an iOS 17 software update with a bug fix for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max overheating issue, and the company has since shared additional details about the matter with MacRumors.

iPhone-15-Pro-Cameras.jpg

Importantly, Apple said the issue is not related to the titanium frame. Contrary to a report this week, Apple said the iPhone 15 Pro's design does not contribute to overheating. In fact, Apple said the titanium frame and aluminum substructure provide better heat dissipation than any previous-generation Pro models with stainless steel frames.

Apple said some third-party apps have overloaded the A17 Pro chip for unknown reasons, including Instagram, Uber, and racing game Asphalt 9: Legends, and it is working with the developers of these apps to address the matter. Apple said its bug fix will not involve reducing the chip's performance in order to address the temperature-related issue, and it ensured that long-term performance will not be impacted.

To reiterate Apple's statement:
We have identified a few conditions which can cause iPhone to run warmer than expected. The device may feel warmer during the first few days after setting up or restoring the device because of increased background activity. We have also found a bug in iOS 17 that is impacting some users and will be addressed in a software update. Another issue involves some recent updates to third-party apps that are causing them to overload the system. We're working with these app developers on fixes that are in the process of rolling out.
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More details are available in our initial coverage of Apple's statement.

Article Link: Apple Says iPhone 15 Pro's Titanium Frame Does Not Contribute to Overheating Issue
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/09/30/apple-iphone-15-pro-overheating-details/
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If an app is pulling 100% of CPU/GPU usage over a long time, that app needs to be throttled. It need to be throttled separately from the OS and other apps running in the background. If it is a background app and it is eating 100% of CPU or (gasp) 100% of GPU in the background, the developer needs to be investigated to see if they are mining crypto.
 
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abatabia said:
Glad they’re jumping on this. Did no one test these apps before release?
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siddavis said:
It’s not the hardware, it’s the software and our lack of QC. We couldn’t be bothered to test our flagship product with some of the most common apps on the planet. That’s what our users are for.
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There was a time when the behavior of software was controlled by the software. Today, the behavior of much software is controlled by what the server is doing. An application can be quite nice and polite when in testing phase. When it is released to the public, polling rates and such can be cranked up and the program goes feral.
 
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abatabia said:
Glad they’re jumping on this. Did no one test these apps before release?
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Perhaps it was subsequent app updates post iOS 17 "going gold" that caused the issue?

sw1tcher said:
How is the iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max overheating not a hardware issue? It's the A17 Pro chip that's generating the heat, is it not? If the A17 Pro chip is not hardware, then what is it? It's certainly not software.
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I guess it is a matter of semantics. The A17 Pro (hardware) is generating the heat, but it is generating the heat because some applications (software) are triggering the A17 Pro cores to run longer and harder than they should.
 
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sw1tcher said:
How is the iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max overheating not a hardware issue? It's the A17 Pro chip that's generating the heat, is it not? If the A17 Pro chip is not hardware, then what is it? It's certainly not software.
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All hardware is throttled today, every single phone, laptop, desktop, server, whatever. Sometimes the software that throttles the hardware needs to be a bit more aggressive.
 
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Apple has just issued the following statement:

We are aware that a small number of users are having issues with their third-generation butterfly keyboard iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max and for that we are sorry. The vast majority of Mac notebook iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max customers are having a positive experience with the new keyboard iPhones.
 
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sw1tcher said:
How is the iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max overheating not a hardware issue? It's the A17 Pro chip that's generating the heat, is it not? If the A17 Pro chip is not hardware, then what is it? It's certainly not software.
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Did you even read the article? A few apps are misbehaving and cause the issue.

Of course if you have weak hardware it doesn’t matter if apps are misbehaving or not. But the stronger the hardware gets, the worse it becomes if an app is misbehaving. And Apple just mentioned 3 apps that are misbehaving. So the issue is software, both in terms of the 3rd party software, but also in terms of iOS shouldn’t allow this kind of misbehaving.
 
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Love-hate 🍏 relationship said:
" In fact, Apple said the titanium frame and aluminum substructure provide better heat dissipation than any previous-generation Pro models with stainless steel frames"

uh, does it really ?
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Titanium has a thermal conductivity of 21.9 W m-1 K-1 with aluminum at 235 W m-1 K-1. Stainless steel has a thermal conductivity of 15.0 W m-1 K-1.
 
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This always seemed like the logical explanation of why so many people DIDN'T experience the problem while some people (very loudly) shared that they did. The reality of warm operation after setting up a new device (and some people freaking out about that), certain types of uses cases, non-optimized third party apps, etc.

Hopefully those threads about this will wither and be swept into the dustbin of MacRumors history. We have more important things to complain about, like FineWoven!
 
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sw1tcher said:
How is the iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max overheating not a hardware issue? It's the A17 Pro chip that's generating the heat, is it not? If the A17 Pro chip is not hardware, then what is it? It's certainly not software.
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There's been quite a bit of user testing, and the statement from Apple, that the overheating is due to iOS 17. Of course the hardware can be associated with the issue, but I don't think it's that likely.
 
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I think it’s just sloppy work by companies that should know better but don’t care (Meta anyone?)

A storm in a teacup.

The OS/apps/hardware performance will be refined via software updates over time.

Apple have stated that chipset performance will not be hobbled to resolve issues- which is good news
 
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13 Pro here, and after upgrading to ios17, I noticed my phone was running very hot, screen was dimming all the time, and battery life was suffering. It resolved itself a couple days ago. Sucks that we can't really get any visibility into what apps are causing the issues...can't exactly load a terminal and run top.

Kinda puts a wrench into Apple's whole "side loading apps would be a disaster!" thing...I mean even with the walled garden you have situations like this where they are approving apps for the App Store that have the potential to ruin the user experience with the device.

I believe this is a software issue though and not related at all to any specific chips or chip issues; at least it was for me.
 
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