As we near September 9 and the next Apple event, we’re all poised for new iPhones; these will form the iPhone 17 family, if Apple sticks to its usual naming convention. And for the most part, I’m a tad ambivalent about it. I adore using the iPhone 16 Pro Max, but I’m not convinced Apple will offer notable upgrades over it with the next-gen phones.
But then I edited our article on the rumored vapor chamber cooling system for the iPhone 17 Pro models and felt a twinge of excitement.
Am I unwell? It’s 2025, and I’m feeling enthusiastic about an approach to cooling some of the best Android phones have had for some time. Maybe I am, but not for that reason. Allow me to explain.
Vapor chamber cooling works by using a liquid-filled metal chamber that lets said liquid change to a gas when it absorbs heat. This vapor then spreads across the metal surface to dissipate heat away from sensitive components like the chipset. It’s a way to better cool CPU and GPU components without taking up too much space; you’ll find such cooling in the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.
So it’s nothing new, but it’s exciting to me for two reasons.
In vapor's chambers
The first is Apple seems to be going a little harder on gaming than it has previously. Not only do we have Apple Arcade, but there are also console-quality games available on iPhone with recent chips. I took Sniper Elite 4 for a spin not too long ago, appreciated the ambition of getting Death Stranding running on a phone that’s a heck of a lot smaller than a Nintendo Switch, and am poised to give Hitman World of Assassination a spin on my iPhone 16 Pro Max.
While there are a load of Android gaming phones, Google’s mobile operating system has yet to embrace such ports of console-grade games.
But this comes with a catch: iPhones can get quite warm when running such games, which can make them burn through battery life and be uncomfortable to hold.
A vapor chamber cooling system, particularly given Apple’s track record of neatly implementing new tech, could solve this issue and make the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max feel like true gaming phones, only without the ostentatious design.
The second aspect is very pertinent to me. I can’t get proper fiber internet at my apartment, despite being on a main road in London. So when it comes to making a hefty download, say a PS5 or Xbox Series X game, I tend to tether these consoles to my iPhone as its 5G connection is far faster than my home internet.
There’s a catch here: extended 5G connectivity tends to eat my phone’s battery, as well as make it a bit hot. When I then put my iPhone in charge to cope with the gulping of electrical juice 5G demands, the phone can get so warm it kills the charging; this is a safety measure to stop the lithium-ion battery from overheating.
Of course, this is a pain, especially if my iPhone runs out of power before a download is complete. It also makes using the phone while it’s piping data about quite uncomfortable.
Now I don’t expect a vapor chamber cooling system to completely mitigate this, but I reckon it could certainly make things a lot cooler and thus more efficient.
So that’s why I’m now suddenly a lot more interested in the still rumored iPhone 17 Pro models.
And I’m hoping Apple showcases this with a clutch of new advanced iPhone games… Cyberpunk 2077 seems to be getting ported to a lot of machines, so why not to Cupertino’s next phones?
More iPhone 17 musings
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