Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Last year, a report stated Apple would exclusively incorporate a vapor chamber into the iPhone 17 Pro Max for enhanced cooling.
- A new rumor claims that Apple’s entire 2025 flagship phone lineup, including the iPhone 17, 17 Air, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max, will actually offer it.
- When a phone warms up, the liquid in its vapor chamber evaporates and redistributes the heat across the space, limiting it.
The iPhone 15 Pro is notorious for its overheating problem. When running extensive tasks, the flagship phone sometimes becomes too warm to hold — particularly towards its top left corner. Apple addressed this issue when launching the iPhone 16 Pro by baking graphene sheets into the thermal system. To further enhance the cooling mechanism, all iPhone 17 models may adopt vapor chamber technology.
In August, reputable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo stated that the iPhone 17 Pro Max would exclusively feature “an upgraded cooling system combining vapor chamber (VC) technology and graphite sheets.” He emphasized at the time that the rest of the 2025 iPhone lineup would miss out on the vapor chamber and rely solely on graphite sheets for thermal management.
A MyDrivers report now contradicts Kuo’s previous remarks, claiming that all iPhone 17 models will utilize vapor chamber technology for cooling. In this case, the iPhone 17, 17 Air, and 17 Pro would also manage heat more reliably — not just the Pro Max edition.
For those unfamiliar, several smartphone manufacturers have already adopted vapor chamber technology — including Google, Samsung, and OnePlus. It consists of a vacuum filled with a liquid that evaporates upon heating. The vapor then expands across the void and distributes the heat accordingly.
At this point, we can’t tell for sure which of the two reports is more accurate. Once Apple launches the iPhone 17 series in September, we’ll get some solid answers regarding the cooling system’s specifics.
