Other Are newer iPhones better about heat management?

[fronesis]

I’m a very light phone user (half an hour a day, max), and I’ve had an iPhone 12 mini for the past 3 years. I still love the smaller form factor and I don’t need to upgrade. But my one huge complaint about the 12 mini is that it can’t seem to handle the heat. After about 18 months on my original 12 mini, I could no longer use the phone plugged in for carplay navigation because it would overheat and drop the CarPlay connection. I ended up swapping selling the old one and buying a new (refurb from apple with 100% battery). That seemed to work better, but the phone still got VERY hot. Now I have a new car with wireless charging, and even when I’m NOT using the phone at all, it can’t charge on the car’s wireless charger without overheating. And one of my only key uses for the phone is to use it on a tripod to video golf swings, but in the sun (even in cool temps - 65 degrees) it will often overheat.

My question: if I upgrade to a newer phone can I feel confident that I can use it on the car wireless charger and take video without it constantly overheating? And if so, do I need to go to the 14, the 15??

 

[Helmsley]

I'd suggest there's an issue with your device...the kind of hotness you describe is NOT normal, and that's from a heavy iPhone user.

 

[cheese1234]

I have a 15 pro max and the heat is still an issue under heavy use. It gets really hot on wireless chargers because they are very inefficient. Every now and then when I'm sitting somewhere I Will pull my phone out and it Will be really hot due to poor cellular connection or syncing with iCloud. Under normal use it's fine however. Wireless charging is a fast way to ruin battery health and overheat a phone. I personally would try setting it in like one of those phone stands by an air vent that way it Will keep it cool.

 

[fronesis]

I'd suggest there's an issue with your device...the kind of hotness you describe is NOT normal, and that's from a heavy iPhone user.

Perhaps. But I’ve had the same experience with 4 different iPhone 12 minis, and from what I read they have too small a battery with poor thermal planning given the small size. The phone is at 100% battery health and my wife’s is too, but both of them will stop charging if connected to wireless charging, and will get very hot quickly if exposed to much sun at all.

 

[fronesis]

I have a 15 pro max and the heat is still an issue under heavy use. It gets really hot on wireless chargers because they are very inefficient. Every now and then when I'm sitting somewhere I Will pull my phone out and it Will be really hot due to poor cellular connection or syncing with iCloud. Under normal use it's fine however. Wireless charging is a fast way to ruin battery health and overheat a phone. I personally would try setting it in like one of those phone stands by an air vent that way it Will keep it cool.

This makes sense. It’s unfortunate that the new car is very specifically designed to put your phone on the wireless charger. To charge otherwise I have to kind of bury it in the center console storage area.

 

[Supermallet]

One of the downsides of the Mini form factor is that it has less surface area, which is the main way fanless devices like phones can dissipate heat. Combine this with wireless charging, which is less efficient than wired charging and creates more heat as a byproduct, and you’re setting yourself up for a bad time.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

I feel like this is something that Apple has been missing. It's great that the A-series chips are so powerful, but it goes to waste when the phone overheats and throttles.

15 Pro user reporting, phone gets warm even when not charging.

 

[now i see it]

Get one of those holders that clip into the air outlet vent. Then you can have air blowing on the back of the phone (or ac) - and guaranteed it won’t get hot at all.

 

[JPack]

Tiny phones like the iPhone 12 mini have known issues with overheating while charging wirelessly. But any phone whether 12 or 15, under the sun will overheat quickly.

 

[Paddle1]

The iPhone 12 series in particular is known to overheat more easily, but if your conditions are extreme it could still happen with other models.

 

[klasma]

In my experience, heat issues were improved to some degree with the 13 mini. However, I can't speak to the specific use cases you're asking about. For the car situation, part of the fault may also lie with the car's wireless charger.

 

[Buadhai]

I have an iPhone 14 Plus. My wife and I regularly do a six hour drive from our home in northeast Thailand to our condo in Cha Am, south of Bangkok. I leave my phone on CarPlay the entire time. After about 4 hours I plug it in to the car's USB-C port to charge it. Now and then it will generate a message saying something about charging will resume when the phone's temperature returns to normal. I've discovered that the passenger side air con vent is wide and strong enough to support to phone, so now that's where I put it when it's charging. Cold to the touch when it's done.

 

[Isamilis]

In my case, the phone is just a bit warm after hours usage. iPhone 14 regular and wired cable, using Apple car play (Google map, call and YouTube music).

 

[Andeddu]

I think CarPlay whilst wirelessly charging your phone is the most heat intensive thing you can do with it. I don’t have CarPlay so never had any heat issues with my phones even when I use them heavily. CarPlay is demanding on the SoC and drains the battery quickly, wireless charging generates a lot heat and cars tend to have warmer ambient temps than anywhere else. It’s a recipe for overheating your phone, not to mention that the iPhone 12 is notorious for running hot.

 

[Ifti]

I think CarPlay whilst wirelessly charging your phone is the most heat intensive thing you can do with it. I don’t have CarPlay so never had any heat issues with my phones even when I use them heavily. CarPlay is demanding on the SoC and drains the battery quickly, wireless charging generates a lot heat and cars tend to have warmer ambient temps than anywhere else. It’s a recipe for overheating your phone, not to mention that the iPhone 12 is notorious for running hot.

This ^

My phone connects wirelessly to carplay, but I never used the wireless charging mat in my car. Phone always gets way too hot. I rather plug it in and put it into the armrest manually as I can do everything I need via the car controls and voice controls anyways.

 

[Japan Ricardo]

Wireless charging is a fast way to ruin battery health and overheat a phone.

Really? I put mine on a MagSafe charger every night, and it's been fine in all respects.

 

[Jackbequickly]

Only time my 15 ProMax get even slightly warm is after about an hour of FaceTime with the family.

 

[krspkbl]

i've only felt my 15 pro max get hot once or twice since launch and i put one down to a buggy beta release. i'm not doing anything heavy on my phone though.

 

[G5isAlive]

Get one of those holders that clip into the air outlet vent. Then you can have air blowing on the back of the phone (or ac) - and guaranteed it won’t get hot at all.

This.

One can complain the iPhone is not well designed for high stress/heat conditions and keep repeating the same doomed experiment, or one can accept the iPhone optimizes weight/size/heat management to 95% use cases and determine how to keep your device in that envelope. Physics is a b*tch, you dont get something for nothing. No doubt they could have improved heat management at the cost of size/weight, but meh.

In particular, I find CarPlay while charging on long trips tends to a) draw a lot of power which results in heat, b) in remote areas of Maine it has to work harder to find a signal and download data and more work means more heat, c) screen brightness is up to combat bright sunlight, more heat. The net result is even my bigger iPro Max 15 can get hot. Clipping it over an air outlet vent takes care of that. Problem solved. Moved on.

Likewise, I dont keep my phone in direct sunlight when out, etc. It's easy to find solutions.

 

[Squirrrrel]

My iPhone 15 Pro Max never gets hot. My cousin, however, went through about five different iPhone 15s that all seemed to be plagued with the overheating issue. She finally bought one that doesn't do it. It's been a while since the overheating issue was prevalent, so maybe Apple has addressed it now. My 14 Pro Max didn't overheat either. The best thing you can do is just buy a 14 or 15 and see if it works for you. You have 14 days to return it if something is wrong.

 

[bad_robot]

The probs still persist. Since iPhone 13 and above Apple changed only the isle. Yes they don't overheat that much but it's still there.

 

[Ahiqar]

15 pro here. Haven’t felt it get hot yet. Bought it in January.

 

[PPCmike]

I feel like this is something that Apple has been missing. It's great that the A-series chips are so powerful, but it goes to waste when the phone overheats and throttles.

15 Pro user reporting, phone gets warm even when not charging.

Right and it's so annoying when the phone gets laggy due to cpu throttle.

 

[rkuo]

iPhones have never worked well in the car. Hot sun, having to run the display at max to overcome sunlight, trying to charge and run apps at the same time, running the radios for Bluetooth and CarPlay, crappy hot wireless chargers. Something has to give.

My strong advice … give up on the in car wireless charger and get a third party wireless charger that actively cools the phone via a built in peltier plus fan. That works perfectly.

 

[Wizec]

My 15 Pro gets very warm, often. Especially if I’m charging it via USB-C and trying to surf the internet, or when taking more than a few pictures or if I’m outside and it’s 80s or warmer. It’s not ideal at all, but it’s also really hard to dissipate battery and SOC heat in such a small form factor.