iPhone 4S feels warm

[Achillias]

I just have recieved my new iPhone 4S from Apple after returning a defect one. But there is something weird about this one. It feels a little bit warm while holding it. Should i return it again and ask for a new one or is it just fine? Could it harm anyway?

 

[ric275]

It depends what you are doing. If you have lots of apps running at once, using an app that really uses the power of the A5 processor, it will become warm, if not hot! However if it is not really being used, I wouldn't return it, but maybe taking it to an Apple store to see what they say wouldn't hurt.

 

[Achillias]

It depends what you are doing. If you have lots of apps running at once, using an app that really uses the power of the A5 processor, it will become warm, if not hot! However if it is not really being used, I wouldn't return it, but maybe taking it to an Apple store to see what they say wouldn't hurt.

It was a new iPhone with a fully sealed box. It happend while i was restoring the iPhone, connected with iTunes and returning all my apps, music, pictures and video's.

 

[NYR99]

Perfectly normal. All processers give off heat.

 

[Sankersizzle]

It was a new iPhone with a fully sealed box. It happend while i was restoring the iPhone, connected with iTunes and returning all my apps, music, pictures and video's.

Yeah, that will make an iPhone warm, because it's well... doing stuff.

I could literally burn our eyebrows off with my 4S after playing Infinity Blade 2 for an hour.

 

[mattraehl]

I'm new to the iPhone and smart phones in general, just wondering what is normal. Basically if I do anything while on 3G the phone gets warm. Definitely not hot or uncomfortable but noticably warm. Is this normal for the iPhone 4S? And smartphones in general?

Also yesterday I was in a room with a very fringe 3G signal, basically depended on the location in the room whether I got service or not. The phone pretty much stayed warmish the whole two hours and the battery drained something like 8% in standby during that time. (Normally I see .5-1%/hour standby drain) I assume this is normal as it must have been working very hard to maintain a 3G connection, but thought I would ask about this as well and this thread seemed as good a place as any.

 

[Kyotoma]

I'm new to the iPhone and smart phones in general, just wondering what is normal. Basically if I do anything while on 3G the phone gets warm. Definitely not hot or uncomfortable but noticably warm. Is this normal for the iPhone 4S? And smartphones in general?

Also yesterday I was in a room with a very fringe 3G signal, basically depended on the location in the room whether I got service or not. The phone pretty much stayed warmish the whole two hours and the battery drained something like 8% in standby during that time. (Normally I see .5-1%/hour standby drain) I assume this is normal as it must have been working very hard to maintain a 3G connection, but thought I would ask about this as well and this thread seemed as good a place as any.

Do you live in a place where you generally get 1-2 bars of signal? If so you could be experiencing tower swapping issues, which would make your phone work harder to maintain your signal. Then again, you would also notice that your phone would not have good battery life at all.

 

[swordfish5736]

My 4S gets warm during hard use while charging but that's about it.

 

[mattraehl]

Do you live in a place where you generally get 1-2 bars of signal? If so you could be experiencing tower swapping issues, which would make your phone work harder to maintain your signal. Then again, you would also notice that your phone would not have good battery life at all.

No at home the standby battery usage is great. Yesterday specifically I was in a room in my church with fringe 3G reception. I'm more asking for confirmation that it's normal in fringe recepetion areas for standby usage can be pretty high (~4%/hour) and the phone getting slightly warm even in standby due to this.

 

[thelatinist]

Processor, battery, and microwave and rf transmitters all all create heat. If your phone becomes unstable or restarts, you might have a problem. Short of that and as long as your battery life, etc. are normal, I would not worry about any heat it generates.

 

[mattraehl]

Processor, battery, and microwave and rf transmitters all all create heat. If your phone becomes unstable or restarts, you might have a problem. Short of that and as long as your battery life, etc. are normal, I would not worry about any heat it generates.

Yeah that all makes sense, I was just trying to get a sense of what was normal, coming from an iPad (No 3G which makes a difference) which is nearly always cool as cucumber when in use, the warmth caught me off guard a bit is all.

 

[Gav2k]

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Op stop worrying. When you sync or restore and iPhone a lot is going on! The a5 is ticking away as well as the battery charging! It gets hot! Once your running normally it'll be cool as a cucumber. The only time you will feel it getting warm after that is gaming, gps use and charging.

 

[joflo723]

Also, to further set the OPs mind at rest...I once accidentally left my iPhone (it was a 3G) on top of my toaster oven at home. Kids come in and pop in a toaster strudel and my iPhone gets to the point of extreme heat. I literally had to use a potholder to pick it up. I figured it had to be toast (pardon the pun) but I stuck it in fridge to cool it down as quickly as possible, keeping a careful watch on it. Took it out after it was cool enough to handle. I did get a warning...something about it being overheated...and the phone wouldn't come on. However, it cooled down and the phone ended up functioning just fine. No problems at all after that.

Long story short...these iPhones are pretty darn tough and if my 3G was able to recover from oven-hot temps, I'm sure you're 4S will be just fine.

Jo