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The iPhone 17 lineup will feature a vapor chamber heatsink to improve thermal performance, according to a new report.

iPhone-17-Pro-Dual-Tone-Horizontal-Single-Feature.jpg

The news comes from Chinese tech news site MyDrivers, which claims that the entire iPhone 17 lineup, consisting of the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max, will adopt the improved thermal heat spreader.

Vapor chamber technology is already used in many high-end Android devices. Vapor chambers work by spreading heat evenly across a larger surface area, preventing thermal throttling and maintaining consistent performance, which is particularly beneficial in slim devices.

While the notorious thermal issues of the iPhone 15 Pro were seemingly resolved thanks to the iPhone 16 Pro's new aluminum thermal substructure, graphene sheet, and back glass, the report claims that the device still struggles under intense thermal load. A vapor chamber heatsink would apparently resolve this and allow for better sustained performance.

Last year, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the ‌iPhone 17‌ Pro Max will also have an exclusive cooling system that combines vapor chamber technology with graphene sheets. Contrary to the latest report, Kuo said that the other new iPhone models launching in 2025 will continue to rely solely on graphene sheets.

Article Link: iPhone 17 Rumored to Feature Major Thermal Design Upgrade
 
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Good because, hardware aside, iOS 18 alone makes my iPhone 13 Pro hotter than it has ever run before. And this is just doing basic things like streaming music over wifi with the screen off. Not to the point that it's an issue, but it is noticeable. I can only imagine how the poor A17 Pro runs, considering it was on that one-off process that didn't seem to work out so well.
 
I’d rather see it to believe it. You really never know until you see the end product. Rumors are great but not always The end result

Vapor chamber cooling has apparently been a thing for a while on the higher-end Android phones, where I imagine heat has been a bigger issue for a longer time than on the iPhone.

Since the iPhone 15 or so, they seem to have had heat issues. Whatever they do, the fact that they are trying to do something about it is encouraging.
 
With the iPhone 18 they will thin out the graphene sheet until it does not exist anymore and were back to overheated devices.
 
Good because, hardware aside, iOS 18 alone makes my iPhone 13 Pro hotter than it has ever run before. And this is just doing basic things like streaming music over wifi with the screen off. Not to the point that it's an issue, but it is noticeable. I can only imagine how the poor A17 Pro runs, considering it was on that one-off process that didn't seem to work out so well.

My 13 Pro was worse heat-wise than my 15 Pro in my experience
 
I really don't like this design. If they want to change things I hope that they figure something else out. The three lenses in a row looks ridiculous.
 
The funny thing is that iPhone 16 Pro Max battery already beats the Samsung S24 Ultra by an hour (Tom’s Guide) without this new thermal design. When Samsung switched to a vapor heatsink on the S23 Ultra, it improved battery life by 3 hours, with the same 5,000 mAh battery.

So the 17 Pro Max might push 20 hours.
 
Is the back aluminum? Metal tends to interfere with wireless charging and that's why all iPhones since the X, including the often forgotten iPhone 8, use glass backs whereas the 7 and earlier were aluminum.
The top where the cameras are is supposed to be aluminum and the rest of the back is glass to allow for wireless charging
 
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Vapor chamber cooling has apparently been a thing for a while on the higher-end Android phones, where I imagine heat has been a bigger issue for a longer time than on the iPhone.

Since the iPhone 15 or so, they seem to have had heat issues. Whatever they do, the fact that they are trying to do something about it is encouraging.
I own a pro max 14 series. I have a cooling problem nowadays also, but as I said I wanna see the improvements. I want to see it to believe it. Because every year they say that the cooling Improves.
 
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