iPhone 4's are very, very hot?

[applemax]

I was in the Regent Street Apple Store the other day, and noticed that pretty much every single iPhone 4 was extremely hot, to the point that you certainly couldn't hold it for very long. None of them were in direct sunlight, and it wasn't humid. Is this normal for iPhone 4?

 

[Jomni]

Yes, but with reason.

Think, the demo iphones are plugged in charging all day, being intensively used (games etc) and are used and demoed all day.

So yes they do get hot but it's not the case in normal day use.

 

[daneoni]

I was in the Regent Street Apple Store the other day, and noticed that pretty much every single iPhone 4 was extremely hot, to the point that you certainly couldn't hold it for very long. None of them were in direct sunlight, and it wasn't humid. Is this normal for iPhone 4?

I'd say so display models of new products especially in flagship stores tend to be abused and flogged very hard and the displays are always on at full brightness too.

 

[wirelessmacuser]

I was in the Regent Street Apple Store the other day, and noticed that pretty much every single iPhone 4 was extremely hot, to the point that you certainly couldn't hold it for very long. None of them were in direct sunlight, and it wasn't humid. Is this normal for iPhone 4?

Yes.

Apple places a higher priority on style than anything else, even thermal management, therefore many of their products run much hotter than the industry norm. Heat being the enemy, this is an issue that I find disgusting. However it is what it is. Apple simply doesn't care.

Anytime you build a device so thin, and so closed, there is no room for heat to escape.

 

[MikePA]

...therefore many of their products run much hotter than the industry norm

What's your proof for this statement?

 

[bluez3]

hell yeah the iphone4 is hot! like hot cakes, you cant find them anywhere.

 

[Mr. Biggles]

What's your proof for this statement?

He doesn't have any. He is simply spreading FUD.

 

[JulianL]

Yes.

Apple places a higher priority on style than anything else, even thermal management

Unlikely. What do you think is at the top of Apple's value system? I'd suggest it's profit. How do you damage profit? You ship unreliable products and have to cope with lots of in-field failures or, even worse, product recalls. How do you massively reduce the MTBF on most components? That's right, you run them hotter.

I would guess that thermal management is very important to Apple since it increases product reliability. The reason these phones run hot is because they've got powerful CPUs and GPUs in them nowadays.

- Julian

 

[tomccabe]

Yes.

Apple places a higher priority on style than anything else, even thermal management, therefore many of their products run much hotter than the industry norm. Heat being the enemy, this is an issue that I find disgusting. However it is what it is. Apple simply doesn't care.

Anytime you build a device so thin, and so closed, there is no room for heat to escape.

Glass and metal are much better conductors than plastic. If anything this is letting the heat *escape* the phone rather than being bottled up inside. Yes, the upgraded hardware runs hotter. Luckily the casing materials are letting it dissipate.

 

[S1njin]

FWIW my brand new Airport Extreme runs very warm too. I think Apple engineers a lot of its product with the idea that the outside shell pulls double duty as a heat sink.

That being said, I'm not wondering how this is going to play out when more people are able to get more cases on these things. Take the Candyshell or Otterbox for instance. The rubber/silcon lining and plastic shell outer covering would seem to insulate the device more ...

 

[Abarth1200]

I think if you knew how hot they are on the inside you wouldnt be bringing this up.

The fact that the glass and metal case is hot means its doing its job of dissapating heat, if it was hot to touch and it was still getting used that hard you would worry.

 

[army91c]

Sorry but if they were to hot to hold in your hand they wouldn't be functioning. I'm not doubting they may of been hot but not THAT hot.

 

[184697]

I noticed my iphone 4 gets extremely hot as well. For me, seems like only the top of the phone gets super hot. Hopefully it wont burn out or anything because I have no signal issues or camera problems with it. Finger crossed.

 

[Warbrain]

Yes.

Apple places a higher priority on style than anything else, even thermal management, therefore many of their products run much hotter than the industry norm. Heat being the enemy, this is an issue that I find disgusting. However it is what it is. Apple simply doesn't care.

Anytime you build a device so thin, and so closed, there is no room for heat to escape.

Thank you for spreading more ********.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

My iPhone 4 overheated two days ago while listening to music out in the sun. I haven't looked into the issue yet, however, to see if it's just my phone, by Apple's design, or something we're going to see more and more of until we move to the next, more efficient architecture next year (if that'll even help). If the last scenario is the case, I feel sorry for anyone who will be purchasing a 2Ghz Android-based phone at the end of this year. Hopefully it's going to have some smart throttling technology in it to prevent that from happening.

 

[wirelessmacuser]

What's your proof for this statement?

There are many resources to consult via Google. In addition, I've got over 15 years experience with over twelve new models of Apple laptops in that time frame. That being just a portion of my experience. As a multi-platformist, I've bought more than twenty laptops of other brands and models. Each and every non-Apple product I've tested and used, has been designed with ample room for airflow within the case. These same examples are also more comfortable on the palm wrest area, since it's not used as a heat sink. In addition, since there is no outlet vents on the case sides like mainstream laptops have, it drives the heat out thru the keyboard, a condition that makes typing uncomfortable.*

Apple fanboys, zealots & inexperienced users have no interest in anything other than launching juvenile name calling attacks. What I find rather interesting is that this behavior is largely present on Apple forums only.*

Apparently their ignorance prevents them from realizing we are not all non-thinking drones that worship Steve Jobs & Apple.*

 

[synagence]

As others have said ... many devices in-store are basically running constantly at 100% brightness, plugged into mains to keep powered and running games/demo videos etc non-stop ... but also the new materials mean the heat is conducted away from the core into the shell much more than previous

I notice my iPhone 4 runs warmer than the 3GS - even with the higher (likely) clockrate of the A4 processor.

It makes me wonder how the likes of Motorola think they're gonna be able to run a 2Ghz Snapdragon processor by years end ... Apple, if for no other reason in their designs, do usually have strong thermal management... evident by the fact i can run my iMac doing encoding and barely hear the fans spin up...

And also wonder whether this declaration is nothing more than a modern day replay of the old AMD vs Intel Mhz pissing competition ... like the same with megapixels...

Oh well ... we shall see how it plays out

 

[sectime]

Thank you for spreading more ********.

Don't be too hard on him, he probably has a burn scar from his Palm Pre

 

[falconeight]

You should of told the apple store to return their phones.

 

[wirelessmacuser]

Unlikely. What do you think is at the top of Apple's value system? I'd suggest it's profit. How do you damage profit? You ship unreliable products and have to cope with lots of in-field failures or, even worse, product recalls. How do you massively reduce the MTBF on most components? That's right, you run them hotter.

I would guess that thermal management is very important to Apple since it increases product reliability. The reason these phones run hot is because they've got powerful CPUs and GPUs in them nowadays.

- Julian

I did not say that Apple ignores thermal management. What I _did_ say was it's not a high priority. They are a very clever company that puts profit first as you said. To extract the maximum profit from their customers they use a dual channel plan.*

First there's the well known "Apple Tax". A premium they charge to customers for the privilege of buying from them. I've paid this premium year after year because I can, and because I love Apple products. That is not to say I'm a gullible fanboy, as I don't hesitate to talk about what's good _and_ bad about the product.*

To wit, here's a recent example of Apple Tax. I bought two brand new laptops in May of this year. One is a Core i7 15" MacBook Pro. The second is an identically configured 15" ThinkPad T510. I've spent the last fifteen years using both brands, upgrading each as new models are released. Here is what I paid including tax & shipping direct from the manufacturer's.*

• MacBook Pro $3,255
• ThinkPad T510 $1,522

People familiar with ThinkPads know they are top of the line laptops. In this case the ThinkPad actually had _more_ features than the MBP. This is because Apple has never been a leader, and lacks many options that other companies offer.*

In this example my new ThinkPad has:

•*Express Card Slot & 5 in 1 Card Reader & Smart Card Slot
• FHD Utra Hi-Res Display
• Biometric Fingerprint Reader
•*Intel Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250
•*Integrated Mobile Broadband (Gobi 2000 3G with GPS)

Back to Apples heating issues. They keep the max temps just low enough to insure the machine will last until Apple Care expires. System board failures are not uncommon due to the high temps Apple permits. *I've got six year old ThinkPads that run like new. That's the difference.*I