This might fall into the category of “kinks to work out.”
Per The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, a pair of iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max handsets have experienced overheating issues.
Both of the reports document anecdotal complaints from customers and outline potential causes, so it’s unclear how many devices are actually affected. Bloomberg said the overheating could be caused or compounded by the iPhone’s setup process, suggesting that the higher temperatures might sometimes be a temporary condition.
The Wall Street Journal quoted Thomas Galvin, a 23-year-old from Cleveland, who reported that this
iPhone 15 Pro Max has been “super hot” and he is considering returning it. Apple customer support told him the heat was a result of setting up the new phone, but even a few days later, it is still “way worse than the iPhone 13 Pro Max,” he said.
From a more first-person perspective, The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern wrote that her iPhone 15 Pro Max did heat up while charging and performing processor-intensive tasks, such as gaming, but she said her iPhone 14 Pro Max reached similar temperatures in the same test. For more typical, everyday tasks, Stern stated that the temperatures of both devices were in a normal range. A number of social media users have also stated that their iPhone 15 Pro is not experiencing any overheating, and the lack of hard data makes it unclear if there is a widespread problem.
On Wednesday, Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the titanium frame on iPhone 15 Pro models negatively impacts thermal efficiency. Kuo believes that Apple will likely address the issue through software updates, but he said improvements may be limited unless Apple lowers the performance of the A17 Pro chip.
Apple has yet to offer any comment on the concerns, and it’s unknown if and when the company will make any software optimizations for future iOS updates to address the potential issue.
If you’ve experienced your iPhone 15 Pro Max overheating on your end, please let us know about your experience in the comments.
Via MacRumors, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg