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iPhone 15 Pro Max Thermalgate (yup, it's happening): Pics of how you're coping

BugeyeSTI said:
I've had my ProMax since Saturday and have yet to have it get warm or hot while using it... It even stays relatively cool while charging with 18w charger.. Seems not everyone is experiencing "thermalgate"
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Same, I got my ProMax on release day and I have yet to experience my phone feeling at all warm, let alone hot, and haven’t had any warning messages or anything. I wonder if this is a quality control issue affecting only a subset of phones? Whatever it is I hope Apple can get to the root of the problem and address it.
 
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I think it's Apple accepting some chips out of spec. The shortage, high demand, and low yields from TSMC pushing them to that decision. Would explain why we see it on some devices and not others. in spec chips work as designed. The Titanium and or cooling design changes would show across the board.
 
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callen_v1 said:
I think it's Apple accepting some chips out of spec. The shortage, high demand, and low yields from TSMC pushing them to that decision. Would explain why we see it on some devices and not others. in spec chips work as designed. The Titanium and or cooling design changes would show across the board.
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One way to look at this TSMC/Apple deal is Apple is being given a sweetheart deal. The other lens is, TSMC is paying Apple to buy their 3nm run due to poor yields and high variability.

www.macrumors.com

TSMC Not Charging Apple for Defective 3nm Chips Ahead of iPhone 15 Pro Introduction

Chip supplier TSMC has taken the unusual step of not charging Apple for defective 3nm chips ahead of the introduction of the iPhone 15 Pro and the...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com
 
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Read a lot about "thermal gate" in the last couple of days. How people had toasted phones or drained batteries after placing phone calls, browsing the web, charging their phone or using social media apps. So I had a close look on my 15Pro und its' behavior while using it.
1. Charging: a) Used a regular Magsafe charger by Apple. Phone got up to 36.8 C which ist quite normal. b): Charged it by cable. Phone stayed totally cool to the touch.
2. Using social media apps like Facebook (no Instagram): Phone stayed cool with normal battery use
3. Phone calls: Phone used about 3% of its power in a 45 minute call and stayed cool.
4. Browsing the web, listening to music, using notes and other apps: nothing out of the ordinary.

Looks like everything is fine (and hopefully stays like this. Keep your finders crossed).
Don't get me wrong: I am not saying that people do not have trouble with their new phones. All I can say is: Up until now, mine behaves more or less normal.

If this is a hardware thing caused by bad design - why are some phones affected by "thermal gate" while others are not? Looks more like software trouble to me. Maybe it has got something to do with the setup process or bad apps.
What do you think? Your expertise is welcome!
Best wishes from Germany!
 
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Superrenz said:
If this is a hardware thing caused by bad design - why are some phones affected by "thermal gate" while others are not? Looks more like software trouble to me. Maybe it has got something to do with the setup process or bad apps.
What do you think? Your expertise is welcome!
Best wishes from Germany!
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Process variability of chips can cause such an issue. If TSMC is having issues making 3nm chips, they can lower the binning requirements but will introduce more variability in performance and/or power consumption.
 
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Bradyy91 said:
You do realize this is a forum meant for all types of discussions, right?
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Sure of course

But no amount of discussion is going to fix a faulty product.

If I buy a bad anything I just return it for a replacement
 
JPack said:
Process variability of chips can cause such an issue. If TSMC is having issues making 3nm chips, they can lower the binning requirements but will introduce more variability in performance and/or power consumption.
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Exactly. A defect in the transistor structure can cause the transistor to leak current, which will waste power and generate heat. Still functions, just not efficiently.
 
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I have not had major thermal issues on 15PM at this point, and definitely haven’t had it shut me out to cool down. That said, I haven’t yet charged it on a wireless charger as I haven’t been home much, but on USB-C fast chargers it’s been fine.

That said, it spends a lot of time on the charger because real world battery life still seems very lacking. I rarely dealt with battery life issues on iPhone until 14 Pro, and I’ve upgraded every year going back to iPhone 4/5 era; the battery life in the X-era in particular for me has never been as bad as it is with the 14 and 15 iPhones. Very disappointing. I have to think the always on screen plays a part, but I generally kept low power mode on all the time with 14 Pro which disables the always on, and I still had issues with life.
 
Frytas93 said:
Ok, I went today to Apple Store today, touched two 15 Pro and two Pro MAX and they wasn’t much hotter than my 8 Plus considering amount of people who used them today and fact that they have their screens on all the time. I am feeling safe to order my unit. My advice if you experienced overheating - use your warranty as you would do with every other faulty product. It’s not a case where all units have problems with cellular connection when holding them wrong. It’s not a “gate” IMO
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I went to the Temecula Apple Store yesterday to feel the iPhone pro max and the iPhone pro. The first Pro Max was hot to touch, the other two were cool to touch. One of the iPhone pro‘s was also hot but the other two were just fine. I informed the Apple assistant and she said that the hot ones were caused by it being constantly plugged in. It didn’t make sens, since all of them were being charged.
 
meirbubba said:
I went to the Temecula Apple Store yesterday to feel the iPhone pro max and the iPhone pro. The first Pro Max was hot to touch, the other two were cool to touch. One of the iPhone pro‘s was also hot but the other two were just fine. I informed the Apple assistant and she said that the hot ones were caused by it being constantly plugged in. It didn’t make sens, since all of them were being charged.
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Were they plugged to charger by cable or by MagSafe? I just realized that these which I saw today were charging by MagSafe so it also could made them warmer
 
meirbubba said:
I went to the Temecula Apple Store yesterday to feel the iPhone pro max and the iPhone pro. The first Pro Max was hot to touch, the other two were cool to touch. One of the iPhone pro‘s was also hot but the other two were just fine. I informed the Apple assistant and she said that the hot ones were caused by it being constantly plugged in. It didn’t make sens, since all of them were being charged.
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Well that's strange...maybe some of their chips do have problems.
 
sparkinstx said:
I was going to buy a 15 Pro tomorrow, but now I'm holding off. Between this and all the stuff they've broken or taken away in iOS 17, I'm seriously thinking about switching to Android.
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I wouldn't switch to Android with a regular phone, but if it was something unique, like a Fold, then I would consider it. I have a Fold 5 as a second phone, and have been considering that as primary. But that Apple ecosystem...
 
Asiatic Black Hebrew said:
Then why did you upgrade from a 14PM knowing you weren't a fan of the titanium, when that is really the only difference between the phones?
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It’s absolutely trivial to find the differences between devices. Just go to your favourite search engine and try something like “Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max vs 15 Pro Max” and you’ll find plenty of comparisons.
 
bmustaf said:
Really disappointed that the things my 14PM did without any problem/complaint in room temperature environments (you know, just basic stuff like syncing the day's iCloud photos, charging on the reg) now involve "iPhone needs to cool down". I've thrown out all the wireless chargers to try and help reduce heat, but that's not really helping much, either.

So, I've decided to store my iPhone here. A bit inconvenient, yes, but also delicious, because now I just eat ice cream every time I need to charge my phone, get my phone, or the like. Next thread: app recommendations to help manage cholesterol, hahaha.

Other ideas? I'm really not thrilled about putting fridges/freezers/ice packs everywhere I use my phone to just basically use the damn $1,600 thing when last year's $1,600 thing did this just fine and Apple thought I "needed" Titanium for some reason, because, what, that 15g weight they saved makes any difference at all? They've more than offset that 15g "saving" with the fact they have broken daily, regular usage of the phone by using terrible thermal design (that I challenge anyone to really, truly, say without laughing at themselves that they couldn't handle that 15g difference...). And that's a feat, b/c Ti has better thermal performance all other things equal....it seems that the reduction of internal surface area to further save weight maybe causing this issue, but of course, I have no doubt that Apple (and/or the fanboi crowd) will have endless advice on how "I'm using it wrong", it's "normal" behavior, or something (I know, I probably shouldn't take pictures with my iPhone and expect it to sync it with iCloud at room temperature...pretty unreasonable, and it is totally normal for just a photo sync to require a trip to the freezer to keep the device within normal operating temperatures).

Show me your serious (or not so serious) ways of helping your new, amazing Titanium iPhone Paperweight Edition keep its cool (just don't put it on paper when it's too hot, or it may become iPhone Lighter-in-more-than-just-weight Edition).
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Return it for another one or go back to 14.
 
Howard2k said:
It’s absolutely trivial to find the differences between devices. Just go to your favourite search engine and try something like “Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max vs 15 Pro Max” and you’ll find plenty of comparisons.
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My point is that if OP already knew ahead of time that he wasn't a fan of the titanium design (the main selling point), then it was probably a poor decision to buy the phone. Self-inflicted wound. Sounds like he wasn't really too thrilled about the phone in general, but bought it anyway. Here are words straight from the source...
bmustaf said:
Hahahahaha! But this isn't new tech, it's basically an iPhone 14 with USB-C and some Titanium bits.
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For me the problem is now just with calls. It begins to overheat on calls longer than 5 mins.

Just tried to call (room to room) an iPhone 14 still on iOS 16:

  • iPhone 15 Pro - 10 mins call 5 points of battery lost - overheating
  • iPhone 14 - same 10 mins call 1 point of battery lost - cold
An 1 hour call yesterday depleted the battery by 30 % points.

iPhone 15 Pro not overheating is low power mode enabled.
 
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Feel like these are clickbait posts and people are getting way too caught up in them. My 15 Pro Max is not heating up much more than any other phone I've used, at peak times. Actually, I will say that my old 12 Pro was getting pretty hot lately and it think it was to do with the battery age. Part of the reason I ended to get a new phone. The 15 Pro Max is not getting anywhere near that hot.

Also, I went to the store to look to look at the finewoven case. I expected it to start falling apart the minute I looked at it. It's fine people! What are you all talking about? I ran my fingernail across it and everything. Nothing!
 
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klaudio said:
For me the problem is now just with calls. It begins to overheat on calls longer than 5 mins.

Just tried to call (room to room) an iPhone 14 still on iOS 16:

  • iPhone 15 Pro - 10 mins call 5 points of battery lost - overheating
  • iPhone 14 - same 10 mins call 1 point of battery lost - cold
An 1 hour call yesterday depleted the battery by 30 % points.

iPhone 15 Pro not overheating is low power mode enabled.
Click to expand...

My phone is only getting hot and draining the battery during phone calls, too. However, I just tried a suggestion from another forum user: Reset all network settings followed by a restart. After a 1 hour test call, my phone stayed a lot cooler and the battery only dropped 6-7%.

Previously, my phone dropped 23% on a 35 minute call.

I'm hoping this has solved the bug, I do recommend anyone else experiencing the "hot call" issue to try this.
 
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