Apple may reduce the performance of the 3nm A17 Pro processor due to massive overheating of the iPhone 15 Pro::The problem of overheating of iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max smartphones is becoming widespread. It is possible that Apple will be forced to take the unpopular step of reducing the performance of the latest 3nm A17 Pro chip.
How does something like this not show up in tests?
It does.
Usually engineering and R&D sees these things, but they are too scared to contradict ambitious timelines set up by management.
Or they report it to their managers, and those managers are too afraid to report it up the chain to contradict an ambitious timeline.
They just figured oh well it works well in Cupertino. They omitted the fact that Cupertino doesn’t get super hot, ever.
oof i can’t imagine using it in my country where it’s 30 degrees celcius and above on average everyday.
oof i can’t imagine using it in my countryApple’s home state, California where it’s 30 40+ degrees celcius and above on average everyday in summer, and Death Valley has pretty much the world record.
I mean if they didn’t test it in Cali I wouldn’t know where at all…
I haven’t noticed a heating issue and I live in a very hot climate. So, it’s not universal.
My 15 pro max is cold all the time, I haven’t played any 3d games yet though. It was cold during restore process and it’s cold when charging
I could see a case made for the test units having much better heat transfer and once mass produced the silicon lottery inevitably made some chips run hotter. But those variances are not massive, so it would’ve already had to run pretty hot. IDK
When developing a product you order “process corner” chips that are primarily used for testing the memory timings (through a process called Shmoo) to make sure it is stable. The “FF” class of these chips are also useful for testing thermals as they draw the maximum power you will see with the silicon lottery. So assuming Apple did this properly they should have had a good idea of what the product temperature is at the operating temperature extremes.
Now the 20% performance increase from last years becomes 10 and you have basically the same phone as last year. Good job to ensure people preorder.
But it uses the same connector as every other device I own, which is the biggest selling point of this year’s model. The performance gains are completely wasted because the 14 was already faster than needed for any usecase.
I honestly have no idea why iPhone users put up with those cables for so long.
Because they had to if they wanted to stick with the iPhone.
Really though, fuck Apple. This change wouldn’t have happened without the EU forcing their hand.
I do find it strange though. For the first time since the 4S I am actually interested in the iPhone and going to USB-C is a big factor in that interest.
Dord Iphone have their version of DEX? I could see the need for power if more people use their phones as a desktop computer. I think we’re not too far away from the day where laptops will just be a screen and a dock for your phone. There is no reason to have a laptop if my phone can do 95% of what it can. I hardly use my personal computer as it is.
Mere speculation with no sources. Or Apple could do nothing.
I’m not an Apple fan by any by any means, but what a junk article! “Apple may reduce the clock speed of the processor”? C’mon! They do plenty of shitty things to dislike them for already. We don’t need to reach for hypotheticals…
I think it speaks volumes for how stagnant phone innovation has become when their marketing campaign is centered on the metal the frame is made out of.
Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the problem can only be solved by artificially limiting the performance of the A17 Pro chip. However, this is unlikely to have a positive impact on sales of new smartphones. Alternatively, Apple can ignore the problem, but that won’t make the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max more popular either.
This whole article is based on just one persons opinion.
this is also a guy who knows a lot about, and has been following Apple news for a long time.
At what point do we add active cooling to phones?
I don’t mean that as a joke, there are some really interesting systems being developed (which are functional) that are extremely tiny that can move air with no moving parts, they’re being developed for exactly this sort of use in electronics.
So, no need for a fan that wears down, creates noise, etc.
The biggest issue would be keeping the air channel free of dust and debris, if they can figure that out, then adding a few millimetres of thickness and a small weight increase in order to accommodate future higher capability processors seems entirely acceptable.
Come to think of it, who’s to say the air needs to come from outside the phone? You could have a closed system, with air channels moving throughout the phone’s metal chassis, acting a little like a heat pump, to better distribute the heat generated in one spot across the entire phone surface area for dissipation.
Phones already use their chassis for cooling, this would just significantly increase the efficiency with no exterior changes. Hmm…
This sounds promising. Dustproof. I dont think waterproofing the air channel will be necessary. This can be used as a way to create a channel for air to pass through without compromising the waterproof seal for the phone internals. The air channel can be a pass through and offers a big benefit in cooling. If there is blockage or damaged fins(I think they are vibrating fins.), then the phone will get warm and automatically throttle. A repair will not be needed unless you want the full performance. I live in the hot desert, and active cooling would be a dream come true. Every high-end phone gets hot to the touch from using GPS or streaming outside.
Edit: Another note is that most people don’t beat up their phones with high-pressure water(dirty or clean). If that was the case, then the phones water seal would suffer or be compromised as they are water resistant to low pressure and may not seal against high pressure.
Thin and flat too!
No? Passive systems don’t do anything to cool other than simply exist.
These systems use energy and are deliberately activated to influence how heat is transferred. That’s the difference of active vs passive.
Hmm that’s interesting, how does this system use energy to move heat around then, if there are no moving parts? Not a rhetorical question, I’m genuinely curious about this system, would you have more info or links to share?
Edit: I just saw the link from @Acters above, that’s pretty cool. I’m not sure if it qualifies as “no moving parts” given that “Inside AirJet® are tiny membranes that vibrate at ultrasonic frequency”, but I’m not gonna be hung up on a technicality, as it does seem a nice technology.
This is some company’s page, but they have a pretty good demonstration of one common method