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Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

spectrum.ieee.org

281–290 of 305 posts

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a lot of people, a phone is a major purchase. Why not throw a $30 case on to protect the $1000 device?

That is not relevant to the question of how people constantly break something that isn't particularly breakable. If they cared about the cost of the phone, I would expect them to demonstrate slightly less wanton disregard for it such that they routinely smash it. I also know plenty of people that regularly break their phones even with a case. At some point, you have to conclude people don't actually care if they smas…

Yeah I guess not everyone is perfect like you lmfao

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#282
post #16

This is a heat pipe. A technology from the 60s. Your laptop almost certainly has heat pipes in it. They usually use alcohol rather than water as the phase change material though. The (relatively) novel thing is that it's packaged small enough to be in a phone. I suspect the only reason it hasn't been used in handhelds more is because the TDP of mobile processors wasn't high enough to warrant it.

>The (relatively) novel thing is that it's packaged small enough to be in a phone

Android/other phones have had heat pipes/vapour chambers for a long time now. I'm not sure why anybody calls this novel or new even when applied to mobile devices.

Moar Apple effect, I guess.

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#283
post #238

Razer Phone 2 laughs, 6 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGsICbmmfws

Also same tech used in laptops. I was always wondering when we'd see this in high end phones.

I was wondering when yet again we'd see the "omg Apple!!! So innovative!!!"

Wonder what the next Apple "innovation" will be.

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#284
post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience is very similar to yours. I am the biggest Apple critic I personally know (don’t get me started on Tim Cook) though I don’t even share a tenth of it because I don’t want to bother my non-technical friends. But I do use a Mac and an iPhone because I prefer them to the alternatives. If I had my way, several things about those products and the company would be different, but at a certain point I had to mak…

> I am the biggest Apple critic I personally know This always gets me. I, as an Apple user, have more vitriolic and in-depth criticisms against Apple than any Android user I know. When Apple haters start their rants, it’s always one of a few superficial talking points that are nowhere near the actual biggest issues of the company or its devices.

As someone who uses both sides (android phone, mac book and a few other apple products), I'll shit on everything that needs to be shat on.

Samsung's new notification bubble that is laggy, gets in the way and is hard to dismiss without launching the app it was for? Moronic.

Apple's "superior UX" of app installs via app store, oh wait but to uninstall it, you have to go to finder and delete it aka breaking the UX flow (should be same place). Idiotic.

Apple do make some of the best laptops tho, the m series is great, best touchpad imo.

For all these things it just sucks that all the companies suck. Focus is on shareholders and growth across every domain now. There's a reason companies can chuck billions at the AI bubble for fun - which is hilarious and all those billions and they still haven't solved problems with models that have been solved locally, got the vibe coders on it I guess.

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#285
post #34
post #10

Why the emphasis on Apple when Samsung was there first? It looks like the competition is making them sweat (pun intended).

Literally in the subheading: > Apple joins Samsung and Google in managing heat

But the heading is the attractor.

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#286
post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$120/year on an iPhone 17, or $140/year on Air, Pro, and Pro Max Even for one year that's more than I'd spend to avoid using a phone case, and if I keep it for five years again that's $700. There are other benefits to AppleCare (a case doesn't cover theft or loss) but I'm not very worried about any of them.

AppleCare One is about $240/year and covers three devices. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/07/apple-introduces-appl...

Across many Apple devices, the only thing I've had break in the last 5 years is a watch that is 5 years old, and if I were picking which 3 devices to put on an Apple One plan that wouldn't even have been one of them (Mac, iPad, and phone all cost more). I think I'll try my luck without it.

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#287
post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good for you. How do you order a taxi without a phone?

Never thought of that, last time I used a taxi it was a dial phone so it has never been a consideration for decades. I'm old enough to where I won't be forgetting any time soon how excellent things can be without any phone at all, much less cellular. Land lines were usually too expensive for students but people weren't crying about doing without. I do bring the flatphone with me regularly, just not most of the time,…

I grew up without mobile phones. Now in 2025 it's just much more practical to carry the phone with me. On the bike I use it as a bike computer and navigation, plus it's great to have for emergencies. When out in the town, any town, it's again a navigation, I can pay parking, public transport or call a taxi. And much much more. Nobody forces me to use social networks, so I don't, and I completely agree with you it sucks to see people sit in restaurants and spend most of the time looking at their phones.

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The caseless argument is that a multi-thousand dollar device shouldn't be so fragile that you MUST wrap it in plastic to be in any way functional. A $1k phone SHOULD NOT be a frictionless glass prism. It should not skate away from you ob smooth surfaces. It should not be destroyed by falling 3 inches onto a hard surface. It should have some durability inherent to it. But instead apple spends billions of dollars makin…

But didn't I just make a case (heh) that it's not only about drop fragility?

It's a cheap sacrificial shell that adds utility. My examples were non-slip and grime from a public table. Maybe add scratches and impact damage in there too because every material is susceptible to that, and avoiding them helps me resell it.

There's no way to build that into a phone. I don't want rubber non-slip bumpers on my phone or a built-in clawed up plastic shell when I can have them in a swappable shell.

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Vapor chamber" isn't a new buzzword. It's been the name for flat plate heat pipes since the 1970s. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19770025469/downloads/19...

This thread reminds me of a friend that was dismissive of anything Apple does. “They didn’t invent it”, “they rebranded someone else’s invention”, “maybe they invented it but all those features are just marketing”. No, he has never used owned or used an Apple product. Not worth his time.

I think your friend spoke a kernel of truth while misunderstanding what Apple do well. It's pretty rare that they come out with something that hasn't been done at small scale previously, but they have insane scale (100s of millions of iPhones sold per model), and a well-developed ability to take cutting edge techniques, as well as some tech that is in development but not ready for prime time, and integrate it and release it in products a year before anyone else can tool up to compete.

Re: Vapor chamber tech keeps iPhone 17 Pro cool

#290
post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also same tech used in laptops. I was always wondering when we'd see this in high end phones.

I was wondering when yet again we'd see the "omg Apple!!! So innovative!!!" Wonder what the next Apple "innovation" will be.

Majority of your comments are nothing more than just bashing Apple with things that aren’t even the case.

Nobody, especially not the title of this post, says anything about this being “innovative” or “omg”.

I think you are right that there is an Apple mental field that controls people, but I actually think the effect is on the other side.

Most Apple fans just comment on something new and go like “hey, look how neat this”. The haters, on the other hand, respond with more or less the same thing multiple times even in the same thread.

I understand if a kid does it, it’s innate to humans to side with Pepsi or Cola, with Xbox or PS, but for an adult, it’s just sad.

If you love tech, just appreciate new things regardless of who the company that makes them is. And if you don’t, then why waste your time on hating it all the time? Just get a hobby.

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