Live data from Hacker News

Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

spectrum.ieee.org

121–130 of 305 posts

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because every Android or x86 thread gets filled with Apple fans doing similar things? This is just how these kinds of discussions go.

Wrong. The vast majority of Apple fans don't care about Android. I never see "Apple fans" going in threads about random Android stuff and talking about it. On the opposite, I see a lot of Android users complain and talk in every single videos regarding anything Apple on YouTube.

It extends beyond videos. I have a friend that works at Apple. In social gatherings, he'll be vague about where he works, to avoid having to hear people defending their Android phones and shitting on Apple. I thought he was exaggerating, but then he showed me. It's super weird.

Tribalism is a hell of a drug.

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a case mostly to provide grip. The bare metal is too slick.

A phone without a case and popsocket for me is like holding a bar of soap. A $1000+ bar of soap

I use a popsocket on a naked iphone 14 pro and it's great in my experience. I don't think I've dropped it once after going worth this setup.

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#123
post #120

> In Apple’s version, a small amount of deionized water is sealed in the chamber. […] Water is often used in vapor chambers, though sometimes other materials are mixed in to prevent it from freezing and cracking the seal, Chiriac says. So Apple uses deionized water, while others add in some other chemicals to prevent it from freezing. So how will the new iPhone deal with freezing temperatures?

Is it necessary to prevent the water from freezing? If the chamber and water within are subzero while the SoC produces sufficient heat, the ice would simply melt.

* Edit: the article mentioned freezing could crack the seal. Freezing would be a bigger issue than I had thought, then.

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cases are great because everyone can get one that matches their risk level and frequency of drops. Having a sacrificial outer layer that I can replace for $10 is also preferable to letting the $1000 phone take the damage.

Yeah, I never understand these caseless discussions. I went caseless once since I didn't realize my case would arrive a week after I bought the phone. The phone was slippery (couldn't temporarily rest it on my knee), and I found myself inspecting the restaurant/bar table any time I put the phone down after that one night I placed it right into a puddle of beer condensation and some mysterious food that got in the mic…

I just use one of those pop out nubbin grip things that were popular like ten years ago.

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#125
post #78
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been caseless for a while and have had a couple of drops and the phone has been fine. When I eventually upgrade my phone, I’ll probably stay caseless, or add minimal protection. Mainly cause if the increasingly rare catastrophic drop happens, it’d be unpleasant to deal with. I do like some cases for their design elements, I might use one to just further personalize my phone.

I have been caseless forever. If I drop the phone and it breaks I’ll bring it to repairs (I used to do it myself but it’s more complicated now and I don’t have the time anymore anyways).

Aren't iPhones expensive to repair? Like $100 minimum for just about anything. That's significant to recover from one incident.

I usually drop my phone 3-5 times a month. Inexpensive cases and screen protectors have saved me quite a lot of hassle.

Fewer repairs saves time, produces less waste, and preserves more of the resale value.

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#126
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watching that video, the first thought I have is "So much engineering and I still need to buy a phone case with my new phone?" I'm guessing phone cases are still pretty much required if you drop your phone once or twice a month onto cement/asphalt/marble/etc from pocket height. I would be really curious to hear the internal debate at Apple wrt design tradeoffs + durability. E.g. how much of the iPhone design is only…

I think you'd be surprised by how durable the newer phones are, especially the iPhone Air. It's hard to completely protect a glass screen from shattering since its a crystalline material encased in a metal enclosure that is more likely to dent than flex, absorb the impact and return to it's shape, but they keep getting better and I think most people could go without a case if they really wanted to. If you're curious…

For those who prefer text over video:

> Typical smartphone glass starts scratching at a level 6 on the Mohs scale of hardness, but Zack’s picks barely left marks even at 7. “Apple ruined my line,” he joked, noting that Corning’s new Ceramic Shield 2 is a big improvement over last year’s iPhone 16 lineup, even besting the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s Gorilla Armor 2, which showed visible scratches at a level 6 when it was put to the same test earlier this year.

and

> Using a crane scale in his garage, he applied direct pressure in the center of the iPhone Air until it finally gave way. The iPhone Air endured up to 216 pounds (~98kg) of force before its front glass finally cracked and the titanium frame flexed past the point of recovery. Surprisingly, the back glass came out unscathed, and the phone was still powered on and usable in the end.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-iPhone-Air-bends-in-JerryR...

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#127
post #32
post #3

Last night I encountered a 3 min+ ad on YT about the construction of the iPhone 17 Pro. A few seconds were devoted to the cooling system. I watched the whole thing. It was better than the video it interrupted. https://youtu.be/_-AS5DtDeqs?si=rTfubRDArVupqREt

Watching that video, the first thought I have is "So much engineering and I still need to buy a phone case with my new phone?" I'm guessing phone cases are still pretty much required if you drop your phone once or twice a month onto cement/asphalt/marble/etc from pocket height. I would be really curious to hear the internal debate at Apple wrt design tradeoffs + durability. E.g. how much of the iPhone design is only…

I remember that there was a Dilbert comic, back when Apple started releasing models with back-and-front glass, that referred to "a smartphone" as being "BSB," which stood for "Beautiful, Slippery, Brittle." The idea was that buyers were encouraged to not get a case (thus, hiding the "beauty"), but it was easy to drop ("slippery"), and easy to break ("brittle").

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#128
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watching that video, the first thought I have is "So much engineering and I still need to buy a phone case with my new phone?" I'm guessing phone cases are still pretty much required if you drop your phone once or twice a month onto cement/asphalt/marble/etc from pocket height. I would be really curious to hear the internal debate at Apple wrt design tradeoffs + durability. E.g. how much of the iPhone design is only…

AppleCare+ basically makes it so having a case or screen protector isn't a requirement for me. I was actually only using a screen protector for about a year, but what I found was they actually are more fragile than the phone's screen itself. I was going through them every 2-3 months. So about a year ago I stopped using screen protectors as well and have dropped the phone many times like how I dropped it with the scre…

Probably less environmental impact to replace a protector than the touch-capacitize screen. And don't have to make repair appointments and wait.

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cases are great because everyone can get one that matches their risk level and frequency of drops. Having a sacrificial outer layer that I can replace for $10 is also preferable to letting the $1000 phone take the damage.

Yeah, I never understand these caseless discussions. I went caseless once since I didn't realize my case would arrive a week after I bought the phone. The phone was slippery (couldn't temporarily rest it on my knee), and I found myself inspecting the restaurant/bar table any time I put the phone down after that one night I placed it right into a puddle of beer condensation and some mysterious food that got in the mic…

I go caseless just because of sheer amount of bulk cases add, even the "thin" ones. It significantly impacts how easy the device is to hold and pocket.

The Air I might consider putting a bumper case on since its thinness offsets the bulk increase, but it's specifically made to be resilient to drops so it's a coin toss even with that.

I barely drop my phone though, it happens maybe twice a year, usually on carpet. In the last decade my phones might've had a run-in with concrete or pavement 2-3 times, tops.

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a case mostly to provide grip. The bare metal is too slick.

Same. Just a thin rubber strip around the permimeter or something like that to make it a bit easier to hold would probably be all I need. A completely caseless phone is too slippery.

I recall my boss using electrical tape on the edges of his early iPhones.
Post reply on HN