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iPhone 16 Pro Heat on iPhone 16 Pro/Max [MERGED]

V

vroom2

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 20, 2019
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How is it compared to the iPhone 15 pro max? In particular, when taking photos/video outside in the sun, with screen brightness maxed out?
15pm was not too bad after update, but always had a warm feeling in hand that I do not recall the older iPhones having, especially outside or in a sunny room with brightness up.

*Please keep in mind, it is normal for all iPhones to get warm/hot during the backup/restore/indexing process.

Thanks!
 
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Heard they fixed it but curious what people are going to say. Keep in mind with stuff backing up etc it might get hot early on.
 
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vroom2 said:
How is it compared to the iPhone 15 pro max? In particular, when taking photos/video outside in the sun, with screen brightness maxed out?
15pm was not too bad after update, but always had a warm feeling in hand that I do not recall the older iPhones having, especially outside or in a sunny room with brightness up.

Thanks!
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I have an iPhone 16 Pro Max since yesterday. There is no need to panic,the phone is actively using the resources of the graphics system and processor. Heating is faster if you set the maximum quality settings for photos and videos.
 
AndyDandy1 said:
Heard they fixed it but curious what people are going to say. Keep in mind with stuff backing up etc it might get hot early on.
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The impression I got from the keynote is that it handles heat better for sustained performance, Apple definitely made some internal changes to make that happen, but that does not necessarily mean it feels cooler in the hand. True about the restores, that would cause heat that would not be experienced in a day to day situation.
 
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Mr.Fox said:
I have an iPhone 16 Pro Max since yesterday. There is no need to panic,the phone is actively using the resources of the graphics system and processor. Heating is faster if you set the maximum quality settings for photos and videos.
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No panic here, just looking to find out if it is cooler in the hand over the 15 pro max, if they are the same, that would be a factor worth considering when upgrading. 15pm is not hot, very usable, but does have more warmth over past iPhones, perhaps due to the pro chip.
 
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IMG_0018.jpeg



26 minutes of mostly photo, 88F outside, shade. 100% to 89%, she got warm but not blistering, my 15PM would have been hotter. Just a quick skate session.
 
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Same/Same.
I do think the heat management is improved, but heat has to go somewhere, and I think Apples actual claim is that it disperses it better allowing sustained performance. Cool skateboarding shot btw!
 
Just a warning, people are going to think it isn’t fixed because as they set up their new iPhone, it’s going to be loading a lot of data and do a lot of indexing, and the processor will be in overdrive for several hours. So don’t panic if that happens.
 
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dannyyankou said:
Just a warning, people are going to think it isn’t fixed because as they set up their new iPhone, it’s going to be loading a lot of data and do a lot of indexing, and the processor will be in overdrive for several hours. So don’t panic if that happens.
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Yeah giving it the benefit of the doubt but had my first ever “overheating” message on my phone when I left it doing full iCloud restore.
 
dannyyankou said:
Just a warning, people are going to think it isn’t fixed because as they set up their new iPhone, it’s going to be loading a lot of data and do a lot of indexing, and the processor will be in overdrive for several hours. So don’t panic if that happens.
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Exactly, it's like people never upgrade. Come on people. Relax for a bit.
 
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I am not sure anyone is not relaxed or panicked here. Just trying to surmise if the 16 pro max is cooler in the hand during day to day use then the 15pm, as for some, this is a reason to upgrade. From the video test, it looks like it is the same warmth, but has the ability to run under load longer without throttling or screen dimming due to the heat transfer mitigations, and that is a good thing.
 
vroom2 said:
I am not sure anyone is not relaxed or panicked here. Just trying to surmise if the 16 pro max is cooler in the hand during day to day use then the 15pm, as for some, this is a reason to upgrade. From the video test, it looks like it is the same warmth, but has the ability to run under load longer without throttling or screen dimming due to the heat transfer mitigations, and that is a good thing.
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People are getting them today. Not the best day to check heat when they are transferring stuff over and downloading.
 
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sp44 said:
People are getting them today. Not the best day to check heat when they are transferring stuff over and downloading.
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It is the internet, the thread will be here as long as MacRumors is online. As the days go by, reports will come in, for those of us waiting to upgrade based on these reports, the sooner/broader the collection of opinions the better. Additionally being able to compare the day they were restored, to how the device feels/performs once it has completed restoring, indexing over time etc. is also valuable information for a complete picture of the resolution.

I also added a disclaimer regarding your point to my original post, as it has been brought up a few times now.
Thanks!
 
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keep in mind, even if you think all of the updates are done, there still may be updates ongoing in the background. I restored from backup, setup the phone, and have been playing around with the Apple Intelligence beta for the past couple of hours. The phone is a slightly warm, but I have been putting this phone through its paces, while background content is still loading. So far the thermal improvements seem to be helping.
 

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The phone got hot syncing - YET - not once did I see the phone report it had to pause and let it cool down like with the 15 PM. It was syncing 45,000 photos, 83,000 messages, and more.

So isn't the outside of the phone supposed to be hot if the heat is being transferred out? Sounds to me the heat issues of the 15 are not there in the 16 so far. (I could get the 'needs to cool down' message just taking 35 photos and watching them sync to iCloud on the 15, btw.)
 
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Just my humble opinion, but the 15PM ran too hot, so Apple did some software magic which I assume downclocks the processor to reduce heat? Which also downgrades performance. They changed it up for the 16PM with a large internal aluminum heat sink.
 
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If the heat dissipation is better in the new iPhone, shouldn’t it feel even hotter? Isn’t heat dissipation about efficiently pulling heat away from the components producing the heat (chip/battery/screen) so that they can function at full capacity (no throttling and dimming)? And that heat would end up being radiated by the phone casing which would feel hot to the touch. If the goal is just to feel less heat on your hand, then Apple could have just insulated the heat, but that would have destroyed component longevity. The only other way is to decrease performance and/or make the hardware/software more efficient. But heat that is created can’t just disappear.
 
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JRoDDz said:
The new aluminum heatsink disperses the heat over a larger area, so no it shouldnt feel hotter.
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A larger upgraded internal heatsink would draw heat away from the components faster but the heat still ultimately has to go somewhere to escape, and as far as I know the only place it can escape is still through the phone outer casing. So as far as the phone feeling hot to the user, all a bigger internal heatsink should be able do is delay the heat a little—which may be enough for very short tasks, but for any longer use it should ultimately still feel as hot, maybe even hotter because of the more efficient heat draw.
The only way I could see upgraded internal heat dissipation helping the hot case issue is if the heat was too concentrated in a specific spot on the case and the upgrade helps distribute the heat better throughout the case. But it seemed like people complained of the 15 as a whole feeling hot.
 
16PM got fairly warm tonight while doing some filming. It was very warm outside but the sun had gone down a bit so we were covered in shade. I still feel like my 15PM would have been hotter and the screen would have been a lot more dim than what I saw tonight.
 
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