Apple is reportedly thinking of adopting a graphene-based cooling solution for the iPhone 16 lineup next year. Shortly after the iPhone 15 series went on sale in September, users found that the latest Apple flagship had bizarre overheating issues that would cause the phones to heat up in unexpected situations. So much so that the iPhones were uncomfortable to use.
Apple investigated the issue and determined that the overheating problem was caused by poorly optimized software before the iOS 17.0.3 update dropped. The company rolled out a new firmware version, and the iPhone 15 issue appears to have been fixed.
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Now, even though the iPhone 15 firmware update fixed the overheating issues, Apple is reportedly looking into upgrading its cooling solution next year.
According to X user @KosutamiSan (via Apple Insider), Apple is working on a graphene thermal dissipation system for the iPhone 16 series to solve any cooling-related problems that may crop up in the future.
Furthermore, Apple is reportedly thinking about encasing the Pro model’s battery in a metal shell to help heat conductivity.
Apple is not using vapor chambers
The graphene system Apple might start using for the next-generation iPhones would assist the existing heat sink solution, and it might be enough for the iPhone 16 series to run optimally without generating too much heat.
Beyond that, Apple doesn’t seem interested in completely revamping its cooling solution by adopting vapor chambers. Although analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested that Apple could use vapor chambers inside iPhones in the future, this has yet to become a reality.
Comparing iPhones to Android devices in some respects is like comparing apples to oranges, no pun intended. Nevertheless, it’s worth pointing out that Samsung is using a vapor chamber cooling solution for the entire Galaxy S23 flagship series as well as the recently launched Galaxy S23 FE, which is an upper-midrange phone equipped with an older high-end chip. Other phones, like the Galaxy S22, use graphite pads to conduct heat.
Editor’s Note (graphite vs graphene): Although the source claims that Apple is working on a “graphene thermal system,” it’s not entirely clear if they’re referring to graphene or graphite.
Samsung has used graphite thermal pads to cool down some of its phones, including the Galaxy S22. But, technically speaking, there is a distinction between graphene and graphite, wherein “graphene could be described as a single, one atom-thick layer of graphite” (via Graphenea).
The terms “graphene” and “graphite” may have been mixed up in translation. We’re unclear if Apple intends to use graphite pads as other manufacturers have before or if Apple is developing a different cooling solution based on graphene.
