September 27, 2023
Apple is reportedly developing a new cooling system titled “Liquid Heat Exchanger For Electronic Device” for future iPhones and iPads that uses magnets to circulate fluids and transfer heat, especially when capturing 4K videos.
This comes as the new iPhone 15 Pro has been plagued by overheating issues, with some users reporting that their devices have become hot to the point of discomfort.
The new cooling system is described in a patent credited to inventor Xiaoyi Huang, and granted to Apple earlier this week. The patent describes a system that uses a magnetic piston, electromagnetic coils, and a power supply to circulate fluid in a pipe. This fluid would then absorb heat from the device’s components and transfer it away to be dissipated.
For instance, running a GPU stress test sends the iPhone 15 Pro’s external temperature soaring to 47.4 degrees Celsius, a stark contrast to its counterparts. Even a mere 10 minutes of recording 4K videos pushes it to 43.7 degrees Celsius, whereas the other phones remain cooler.
Apple says that the new cooling system would be more efficient and quieter than traditional fan-based cooling systems. This is important for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, which need to be thin and light and have long battery lives.
The new cooling system could also be used in other Apple products, such as the Mac, Apple Watch, and even the iPod. In fact, the patent illustrations show all of these devices using the new cooling system.
The sources for this piece include articles in Mashable, AppleInsider, and ZDNet.
