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

[aParkerMusic]

You Apple fanboys are something else. Any time a number of people gather together on social media to talk about legitimate issues they're facing, you call it "traffic-driving clickbait". Or you blame users for using their phone wrong. Or claim that they're attention seeking.

Y'all are gaslighting people's legitimate issues. It's disgusting. The way you blame people reminds me of the garbage-level humanity found on 4chan.

A bunch of dramatists’ phones are warmer than they expected in the first week of use and they’re screaming on the internet that the entire generation is trash and that Apple is evil.

You don’t need to be a fanboy to not take people like that seriously.

There is way too much theatrics, immaturity and instability when it comes to complaints about Apple products. It’s tiresome.

 

[ab2c4]

Is there any chance maybe there was a batch of bad batteries? I ask because when I had my regular 11 it ran cool for about a year, then when the battery health started going bad fairly quickly the phone would often get pretty hot.

 

[AF_APPLETALK]

The iPhone SE 3rd Gen can text and browse the web.

Yeah but then you have that awful iPhone 6 body style that you have to touch every day

 

[aParkerMusic]

Maybe, but "a small portion" and it's both me and my wife's, four of my employees', and tons of people across the launch countries who all use it differently? Glad there are many that aren't experiencing it, of course, but that is not seeming likely, esp from the tear downs. The change in the internal frame and surface area for heat pipe type effect is seeming more likely.

All these people you know are having thermal issues within a week of getting a new phone. And everyone was a day one adopter? And other people say no one they know has an issue. What interesting population segmentation.

 

[bmustaf]

The only actually tiresome thing detected is people who think because they don't have a problem with something that everyone else must just be complaining for no reason because they can't accept that Apple might have messed something up.

iPhone 14 PM right next to iPhone 15 PM: one doesn't throttle doing the exact same photo sync after taking the exact same photos, the other does.

If you're OK with wasting $1,599 for less performance and usability when you were promised more, sure, that's your choice, but the only "theatrics, immaturity, and instability" here are people who can't accept the fact there might be Apple customers out there who won't blindly accept "it's better! because, uh, we said so!" and actually expect to get value for our money.

A bunch of dramatists’ phones are warmer than they expected in the first week of use and they’re screaming on the internet that the entire generation is trash and that Apple is evil.

You don’t need to be a fanboy to not take people like that seriously.

There is way too much theatrics, immaturity and instability when it comes to complaints about Apple products. It’s tiresome.

 

[AF_APPLETALK]

Honestly, if I could just go back to my iPhone 14 Pro max with USB-C and that 5x zoom, and the action button, I'd love it, because, well, that's basically all the iPhone 15 Pro Max is: an iPhone 14 Pro Max with zoom, an action button, USB-C and really, really terribly regressive thermals because, uh, "titanium" and saving 15g? Geez.

It's got to be something with the internal aluminum structural frame, not the outer titanium frame.

 

[internetrando]

another point for those of us in the “set up iPhone as new” every time camp

Bingo. When I get a new device, I do a DFU IPSW restore, set the device up as new, and never have any issues with them.

 

[bmustaf]

Oh, I know people who aren't having issues, too, never said I don't. 4 out of 30 employees who get new phones are having problems in addition to me and my wife, and we all use them differently. Tons of reports on Twitter/X, here, 9to5Mac, etc, too.

But, sure, you're right, we're all delusional/holding it wrong and Apple is perfect.

All these people you know are having thermal issues within a week of getting a new phone. And everyone was a day one adopter? And other people say no one they know has an issue. What interesting population segmentation.

 

[aParkerMusic]

My 15 pro max is definitely running hotter than my 14 pro max and I am not doing much besides texting and browsing the net.

You’ve had it for less than a week, during which time it’s doing all sorts of nonsense in the background (as has always been the case) and you might even be using it more because it’s new.

It seems similar to when people obsessively complain about poor battery performance in the first few days of ownership. This is not unexpected.

I think everyone needs to take the advice they have for their phones: chill out.

 

[bmustaf]

Yup, the most credible theory I've heard cites the teardowns in seeing a reduction in surface area internally so that despite Ti being a better conductor, there is simply less capacity to carry internal heat to the frame, so it doesn't matter how good the Ti is at dumping heat, it never gets there b/c the internal design was changed to further reduce weight.

"I need my iPhone 14 Pro Max to be 15g lighter!" - No One

"Jesus, throttling again on my iPhone 15?" - Plenty of people

It's got to be something with the internal aluminum structural frame, not the outer titanium frame.

 

[surfzen21]

And everyone else who is having this problem? Anything is possible. Rather, the more probable explanation, esp after seeing teardowns, etc, is that they reduced the surface area of the internal frame and boxed themselves into some really unsavory thermals despite Ti being a more effective conductor.

So, yeah, the software fix will likely just throttle the CPU/GPUs, negating any advance of the A17 Pro other than USB-C, and in doing so, negate the thing we actually want here: a CPU/GPU combo that continues to advance.

Honestly, if I could just go back to my iPhone 14 Pro max with USB-C and that 5x zoom, and the action button, I'd love it, because, well, that's basically all the iPhone 15 Pro Max is: an iPhone 14 Pro Max with zoom, an action button, USB-C and really, really terribly regressive thermals because, uh, "titanium" and saving 15g? Geez.

I hope you get it worked out but I know 5 people with 15 Pro's, 2 Pro's and 3 Pro Max's and none of them has an issue with heat but is it a bit chilly in the NE and they are frigid people so maybe that has something to do with it.

It would be nice if you would detail your usage, case and have a thermal temp gun so we can see what's going on.

 

[Rafagon]

Why does everything have to have "gate" at the end of it? Watergate was over 40 years ago...

I know! This is GateGate!

 

[aParkerMusic]

Oh, I know people who aren't having issues, too, never said I don't. 4 out of 30 employees who get new phones are having problems in addition to me and my wife, and we all use them differently. Tons of reports on Twitter/X, here, 9to5Mac, etc, too.

But, sure, you're right, we're all delusional/holding it wrong and Apple is perfect.

“Tons of reports” on websites. K.

You seem to exaggerate a lot. I’ve no doubt you’re exaggerating your own experience and that of the people you know whose phones are on fire.

A friend of mine worked for the Genius Bar some years back. He would tell stories about customers who came in claiming that their device became so hot it literally burned them and they wanted compensation. The devices almost never had a history of heat warnings, and no one ever seemed to be able to produce proof (photos, medical records, scars, etc).

Why?

Because they were being dramatic and wanted to find something to complain about.

I’ve no doubt your device has been warm. But your posts have been really intense, very emotional, and it all just seems beyond. It’s just very peculiar.

Wishing you luck in the future.

 

[bmustaf]

So, if you're freaking out over people freaking out, doesn't that make you even more guilty of "obsessively complaining"? You are literally complaining about people you say are complaining. You must be so proud.

Nevertheless, I'll play the game:

Bare, fresh from a reset (and AppleCare+ replaced in the last month) iPhone 14 PM vs my iPhone 15 PM, exact same iOS, subject to the same nebulous "well, it indexes, and that's got to be it" chicanery you're citing, exact same photos taken, in exact same room, on same networks, both charging over their respective cables from the same mains power source.

iPhone 15 PM throttles in the sync. iPhone 14 PM does not.

But, sure, yeah, we're "holding it wrong" or "it's indexing" or whatever. But no, Apple could not be wrong/messed up anything, and we should just "chill out" and not point out we're not quite thrilled that the $1,599 we just shelled out for the thing supposedly better than the previous $1,599 thing isn't actually turning out to be that much more amazing, and, rather, maybe even worse in material regards?

You’ve had it for less than a week, during which time it’s doing all sorts of nonsense in the background (as has always been the case) and you might even be using it more because it’s new.

It seems similar to when people obsessively complain about poor battery performance in the first few days of ownership. This is not unexpected.

I think everyone needs to take the advice they have for their phones: chill out.

 

[bmustaf]

Literally put iPhone 14PM next to iPhone 15PM, one throttles one does not, both exact same config, loaded from scratch/reset.

Not subjective. Not exaggerated.

Sorry to burst your bubble that Apple is not perfect and we're all just drama queens.

Wishing you luck in the future with accepting the things that may contravene your own individual n of 1 experiences.

“Tons of reports” on websites. K.

You seem to exaggerate a lot. I’ve no doubt you’re exaggerating your own experience and that of the people you know whose phones are on fire.

A friend of mine worked for the Genius Bar some years back. He would tell stories about customers who came in claiming that their device became so hot it literally burned them and they wanted compensation. The devices almost never had a history of heat warnings, and no one ever seemed to be able to produce proof (photos, medical records, scars, etc).

Why?

Because they were being dramatic and wanted to find something to complain about.

I’ve no doubt your device has been warm. But your posts have been really intense, very emotional, and it all just seems beyond. It’s just very peculiar.

Wishing you luck in the future.

 

[StudioMacs]

This “technobabble” is what gives you your iPhone, internet, cars and fresh water in tap. It’s not magic but also not simple “2+2=4”.

These are facts which I see: some users are experiencing overheating issues. Some doesn’t. I cannot assess any numbers about quantity of incidents (but usually people which are unsatisfied are louder about giving their opinions) so even assuming it’s 50/50 you can’t tell that’s for sure problem with hardware. They could be multiple reasons of what is the cause.

So at this moment I can only advise to return phone if you are not satisfied. You have right to do it but making stories about “it’s a lie. 3nm doesn’t exist” it’s just ridiculous. I can guarantee that Apple would never do this because it’s too easy to prove that

We want attention, not facts!

 

[LevorgPenmancho]

Yeah but then you have that awful iPhone 6 body style that you have to touch every day

If that was released for the first time today, it would be seen as a massive improvement over the current chassis’

 

[kp98077]

mine always has a slight fever, kind of like COVID, poor thing!

 

[gerlitzappel]

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).

did you try turning off the hotspot?

 

[weezor]

The OP seems very dedicated in blaming Apple for various issues, calling it a gate, even reaching back to the iPhone 4 and he brings up the macbook keyboards. Acting all scientific about it, explaining why 3nm is at fault, the internal structure and how Apple has messed it up by design. The hardware being structurally build so that it will heat up more, telling us how Apple will fix this with the next phones. But then dismissing people who report having no problems at all. How can this be when the issue is allegedly by design? Perhaps it’s really just the OP holding it wrong or using faulty apps like Instagram, which might not be optimized for iOS 17

take a look

also the other people on youtube, running benchmarks and performing heat test don’t seem to find much of a difference compared to a 14 pro max in terms of peak heat, and it even runs cooler while charging.

 

[Spinrite]

In testing especially in Very High intensity the chip is prone to heating. Soc-the soc this year is a huge junp in performance especially the GPU. The power draw on it is Higher while being weaker than an android GPU. If android(8gen2) pulls 6w for 70fps, the A17 pro is pulling 8W for 62FPs.

And coming to the CPU,

The performance cores are power hungry with marginal gains. While Efficiency cores are the huge improvement here tackling 8gem2 Mid cores with even better performance)

Frame-culprit could be the Titanium Frame.

Yes-because the titanium frame(outer) is poor at heat dissipation

What should ios do?

They should do thermal regulation by simply throttling.

Although the frame prevents the device from feeling hot,the battery health will also be affected with higher drop over the time.

 

[dontwalkhand]

It is in the subject, so it must be true, it is most definitely a gate! I put it in the subject, which most definitely, objectively, for real makes it a gate.

I build gates out of wood and metal, not out of iPhones. That would be one expensive gate.

 

[nvmls]

Maybe Meta is using you and you don't know it.

Or Apple..

 

[Jay3197]

My 15 pro max is definitely running hotter than my 14 pro max and I am not doing much besides texting and browsing the net.

Are you browsing the net by any chance using cellular connectivity ? Aka not WiFi?

Wondering if it’s the cellular modem that’s causing the heating issue since many have stated it happens during phone calls.

 

[ratspg]

The OP has legitimate posts here, I don't get why everyone is giving him such a hard time! I have the 15 Pro Max and it definitely gets hotter than the 14 Pro Max I had before it. It's noticeable for sure. I haven't had the temperature issue myself, but I definitely noticed it being hotter (and lighter) than last years model.