Apple acknowledged that the iPhone 15 series was overheating due to a lack of software optimization in iOS 17. After the release of iOS 17.0.3, the issue has largely been mitigated, but Cupertino may opt for a hardware solution in the iPhone 16 next year.
According to a new rumor, Apple is considering replacing the copper heat sink on the iPhone 15 with a graphene solution. Next year’s iPhones should feature graphene, which offers superior thermal conductivity to copper. To promote better heat transfer and cooling, the graphene heat sink would be paired with a new metal bracket housing. Keep in mind that this is still an early rumor, so take it with a grain of salt.
Thus, iPhones won’t have fan-based cooling. By absorbing heat from the processor, graphene prevents the temperature from rising out of control. The heat conductivity of graphene is excellent. Graphene has a thermal conductivity of 5000 watts/meter-kelvin at room temperature. It is about two times as much as copper and three times as much as silver. However, graphene cooling isn’t the only solution. Every year, Apple makes its processors more powerful and efficient.
Same Chipset on all iPhone 16 models:
According to supply chain analyst Jeff Pu, Apple is expected to ditch its current practice of using older chipsets in its iPhone models and instead use A18 chips in all four iPhone 16 models.
Apple’s iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are powered by the same A16 Bionic chip used in last year’s iPhone 14 Pro. Meanwhile, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max feature TSMC’s 3nm-based A17 Pro chip.
The A18 chip will be used for all four iPhone 16 models, which will be manufactured using TSMC’s second-generation 3nm chip fabrication process, called N3E. In comparison to TSMC’s first-generation 3nm process, N3B, used for the A17 Pro chip in the iPhone 15 Pro, this process will be less expensive and yield will improve.
Pu also predicted which chipsets will be used in each iPhone 16 model. According to him, the standard iPhone 16 models will get the A18 chip, while the Pro models will get the A18 Pro chip. N3E is TSMC’s process for fabricating chips, as mentioned earlier.
