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iPhone 5 heat?

adnbek

adnbek

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 22, 2011
1,585
553
Montreal, Quebec
Does anyone else's iPhone 5 get uncomfortably warm when running certain apps? Apps like flipboard and angry birds Star Wars really make my phone warm enough to become uncomfortable to hold.

Now I'm aware the more you tax it, the warmer it can get, but I don't think the two apps mentioned above would tax the CPU that much.

Anyway, if it's normal then I can live with it but I was wondering whether it's my phone specifically that's experiencing an issue or whether it's just normal thermals for the new iPhone.

My iPhone 4 never got this hot and even when it did warm, it was really graphic intensive stuff only. Never from simple apps like flipboard or angry birds.
 
My iPhone 5 warms up significantly when playing Angry Birds Star Wars. I don't really play any other games and none of my other apps make the phone get hot. I think it's normal with certain games/apps.
 
mine sometime warm even i left it on standby, but when i play game, it is hot within 10 minutes of play, and battery drop like crazy. but oh well, nothing you can do about it
 
Angry Birds Star Wars seems to heat it up more than any other app I currently use. I wonder if there are any iPhone 5s that do not experience any heating when running that game specifically. If it's unanimous that it heats up for everyone, I guess it's just normal and not just a defect with my phone specifically.
 
Yeah I realize that. The metal is obviously acting as a heatsink in that respect, but it's just so uncomfortable to hold when it gets that hot! It's not painfully hot but very uncomfortable.

And before anyone says "well, get a case for it", I worry of the effect a case will have on the phone if all that heat is being trapped in by a case.
 
mine gets quite warm if i have find my friends app open for anymore then 5 minutes.
 
I used an IR thermometer to measure both the 4 and 5 when video recording. Don't have the exact numbers in front of me at the moment, but at the hottest point by the camera, the 4 read around 42C and the 5 only 40C. But the rest of the backside was slightly warmer by a degree on the 5. So yeah since the metal back conducts the heat better, it will feel slightly overall warmer, but not by any significant margin over the 4.
 
adnbek said:
Yeah I realize that. The metal is obviously acting as a heatsink in that respect, but it's just so uncomfortable to hold when it gets that hot! It's not painfully hot but very uncomfortable.

And before anyone says "well, get a case for it", I worry of the effect a case will have on the phone if all that heat is being trapped in by a case.
Click to expand...

Good on you for being logical. This is how bending occurs (hot phone in tight case, forces the metal awkwardly until it folds at its weak point)
Unfortunately I cannot offer a remedy.
 
adnbek said:
Does anyone else's iPhone 5 get uncomfortably warm when running certain apps? Apps like flipboard and angry birds Star Wars really make my phone warm enough to become uncomfortable to hold.

Now I'm aware the more you tax it, the warmer it can get, but I don't think the two apps mentioned above would tax the CPU that much.

Anyway, if it's normal then I can live with it but I was wondering whether it's my phone specifically that's experiencing an issue or whether it's just normal thermals for the new iPhone.

My iPhone 4 never got this hot and even when it did warm, it was really graphic intensive stuff only. Never from simple apps like flipboard or angry birds.
Click to expand...

Think of it like how the MBPs disperse heat. The heat is transferred from the inside to the outside by using the aluminum as a conduit. It gets how but not uncomfortably hot. My 4th Gen ipod touch was much worse. I have a case on it now so it doesnt bother me but it is normal and part of the reason why Aluminum was used. As chips get more and more powerful they have to find better ways of getting the heat to the outside of the device and using Aluminum is a genius way of doing that.
 
adnbek said:
Does anyone else's iPhone 5 get uncomfortably warm when running certain apps? Apps like flipboard and angry birds Star Wars really make my phone warm enough to become uncomfortable to hold.

Now I'm aware the more you tax it, the warmer it can get, but I don't think the two apps mentioned above would tax the CPU that much.

Anyway, if it's normal then I can live with it but I was wondering whether it's my phone specifically that's experiencing an issue or whether it's just normal thermals for the new iPhone.

My iPhone 4 never got this hot and even when it did warm, it was really graphic intensive stuff only. Never from simple apps like flipboard or angry birds.
Click to expand...
Glass is an insulator, metal is a conductor.

The backside of your iPhone 4 did not conduct heat like the 5 does.

Also, electronics produce heat.
 
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