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iPhone 13 Pro Max iPhone 13 heating issues

EddieKeyton1

EddieKeyton1

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 28, 2021
314
290
Since the day I purchased the iPhone 13 regular. I’ve noticed that it puts out a considerable amount of heat when playing games. I ended up upgrading to the 13 pro max in hopes it would be a little cooler on gaming. It isn’t the only reason that I upgraded, obviously. But, the 13pm gets even hotter than the regular 13.

This thing gets so hot during fps gameplay that it is uncomfortable to hold at times. Am I the only person with this issue? I’ve had 4 devices now and they all do it. So it isn’t a device specific issue. It gets so hot that the screen dims even with AB disabled. Which I’m guessing is a built in safe feature to help the device cool down. I am paying 1200 and some dollars for this device. In my mind it shouldn’t have this type of issue. Should it? I didn’t have these types of issues with my S21 before I switched to iPhone. So what I’m wondering is…

1. Do you think this is a software issue or hardware?
2. Do you think this will harm the device or battery in the long run?
3. Do you have or know anybody who has had this issue?
4. Anything I can do that will help the problem
 
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yitwail said:
It's most likely the motherboard design. Anandtech discusses it at some length here (scroll to the bottom): https://www.anandtech.com/show/16983/the-apple-a15-soc-performance-review-faster-more-efficient/3
If it's any consolation, I suspect it would be more of an issue with 13 pro rather than your 13 pro max. About the only suggestion I'd make is not using it while it's plugged in, because that's probably not ideal for battery health.
Click to expand...

I play with it not plugged in and it still gets hot.

I’ll try low power mode. It doesn’t that shut down a few of the threads in the cpu?
 
EddieKeyton1 said:
I play with it not plugged in and it still gets hot.

I’ll try low power mode. It doesn’t that shut down a few of the threads in the cpu?
Click to expand...
Low power mode shuts down the 2 performance cores and down clocks the 4 efficiency cores.
 
If I may ask, what games are you experiencing this with, and how long does one have to play before this happens?
 
I’ve been in an Orange Shop, and they had iPhones on display. My 13pro gets hot while using the camera and i wanted to test other copies. I tested the 13pro on gold and it got hot even faster then mine, on 1080 60p. I start to think that the problem is….me. I might me a bit too sensitive to heat and temperature compared to others. Or maybe I’m expecting too much from it? I know is a powerful device and while it doesnt have vents, needs to cool down somehow.
 
akash.nu said:
This is the vital info we need here. Hours of gameplay will heat up any device. Are we comparing apples to apples here, that’s the main thing.
Click to expand...

It’s only like 20 minutes of gameplay until it heats up. Pubg, iron throne, clash of queens are the 3 main ones. Really anything that uses any processing power. Using low power mode like suggested above. Seems to work.

To the person above that said nobody here can help me, take it to apple. Why even comment? To up your post count? Why would I post here prior to going and talking to apple? I’ve already spoken to them. It’s the same ole song and dance as when this was happening in my iPhone 13. No help.
 
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EddieKeyton1 said:
It’s only like 20 minutes of gameplay until it heats up. Pubg, iron throne, clash of queens are the 3 main ones. Really anything that uses any processing power. Using low power mode like suggested above. Seems to work.

To the person above that said nobody here can help me, take it to apple. Why even comment? To up your post count? Why would I post here prior to going and talking to apple? I’ve already spoken to them. It’s the same ole song and dance as when this was happening in my iPhone 13. No help.
Click to expand...

1. Turn on low power mode. Barely noticeable performance drop in most games.
2. Lower the screen brightness.
3. Try to be located as close as possible to your wifi router, or if using mobile data, get to a location with good cellular signal.

These are all things that will help reduce the heating on the phone while gaming. As always charging while gaming will also heat the iPhone up.
 
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MacLappy said:
1. Turn on low power mode. Barely noticeable performance drop in most games.
Click to expand...
What is really amazing is how good the performance of the 4 efficiency cores are in the A15. Even when they are down clocked from 1.83 GHz to 1.37 GHz, the A15 only uses about 3 watts of power. So besides running cooler the A15 sips very little battery in Low Power Mode. That is staggering low power performance.
 
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You want really hot try using the lidar for a few minutes with something as basic as the measuring tool. Gets insanely uncomfortable around the camera lens and sides. Lidar is not only 99% useless but it causes the iPhone to burn itself alive.

As far as gaming maybe use a case instead but it's bound to happen on a fanless design with a small frame. iPads are much better with heat.
 
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Turning down the brightness isn’t an option. I need the screen at max brightness. Anyway, I did a lot of research and it’s the game causing it. I found out it’s a known issue. So I don’t play it until it’s fixed to save my battery from burning itself out lol thanks guys.
 
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Alien Isolation, which is probably the most demanding game on iOS, runs cool on my 12 Mini. I wonder if your problem is universal to the A15 line of phones.
 
The best solution is to set a performance cap inside the game (resolution & frame-rate). I would also remove any bulky cases, as that can exacerbate the heating issue.
 
When electrons get busy doing what they do by flowing through the processor at light speed, the result is going to be heat. Every computer on terra firma will heat up when the electrons are working overtime. The smart thing for Apple, or a 3rd party vendor, to do would be to develop a special gaming case with built-in cooling. Apple has always gone with form over function, so they design things to look good first and hopefully function too. I do astrophotography as a hobby, and we often run into heating issues too, and we solve that by attaching special made fans and cooling systems to the camera to keep them from burning up. Something similar sounds like a good idea for a small(ish) device like an iPhone 13 Pro Max with an A15 chip running hard and hot and with no ventilation or fan.
 
w5jck said:
When electrons get busy doing what they do by flowing through the processor at light speed, the result is going to be heat. Every computer on terra firma will heat up when the electrons are working overtime. The smart thing for Apple, or a 3rd party vendor, to do would be to develop a special gaming case with built-in cooling. Apple has always gone with form over function, so they design things to look good first and hopefully function too. I do astrophotography as a hobby, and we often run into heating issues too, and we solve that by attaching special made fans and cooling systems to the camera to keep them from burning up. Something similar sounds like a good idea for a small(ish) device like an iPhone 13 Pro Max with an A15 chip running hard and hot and with no ventilation or fan.
Click to expand...
Gaming case?

Nah apple can simply use their 8yr + old knowledge of liquid metal and use that in a thin but wide vapour chamber over the chip components and motherboard and include most of the battery to better dissipate heat.

Asus has done this exact thing on their just announced Z13 Flow tablet that has a full laptop Intel 12th gen chip (or is it 11th gen?). Gaming phones like Asus etc also used a vapour chamber within, I’ve seen no reports over the last few short years of this implementation affecting device with leaks or issues in performance directly related.

Heat could be a reason why Apple is rumoured to use titanium as it manages heat better (higher melting pint so it’s ability to manage heat is better much bette than aluminum).
 
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A gaming case is unlikely to fly through Apple’s marketing department, as it’s an indirect admission that the device it connects to is by itself not suitable for gaming.
 
EddieKeyton1 said:
Turning down the brightness isn’t an option. I need the screen at max brightness. Anyway, I did a lot of research and it’s the game causing it. I found out it’s a known issue. So I don’t play it until it’s fixed to save my battery from burning itself out lol thanks guys.
Click to expand...
Solution:
  • Do not play games on iPhone
  • Solves overheating problem
 
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